Nine tailed Rebirth
by ShadowLight223
Summary: The Kyuubi was a mythical beast known for its unending power and destructive force. When it attacked, no one was ready for it. They were lucky that they managed to get by with their lives intact. They assumed that it was gone forever. But through the effects of a madman, the beast would see its return... Just not the way anyone thought possible.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes**

Now I know that I've already written a story similar to this one in concept, but I felt trapped with the other idea. I feel like I'll have more creative freedom with this story then the first one. I'll leave that up to you to decide whether or not that seems true. I put a lot more thought and effort into this story then I did (Konoha's New Kyuubi), and I hope that it shows in my writing.

* * *

**LEGEND BELOW**

"In the beginning..." = Normal speech.

_''I kinda wanted to know.''_ = Normal thoughts.

**"You dare to defy me!?" **= Unknown speech.

**_''That's what I thought.''_** = Unknown thoughts.

* * *

Konohagakure-no-Sato, a village hidden deep in the depths of the land of fire. It was a legendary village, one filled to the brim with stories bordering on insane and sometimes unbelievable. The place was one of the most powerful cities in the elemental nations, and it held that title for a very good reason. Famed for producing some of the most powerful Ninja to ever exist, and some of the worst threats to ever grace the planet as well. It was a ninja village that had never known defeat, and it had its powerful warriors to thank for that.

But for all of its amazing accomplishments, it had also suffered greatly in the years since its creation. Some of the worldwide legends that they produced were also widely known for going rouge, leading a life of crime and violence. Many of the ninja that the people apprised had either left the village, or simply quit, and left to seek out a new life.

Madara Uchiha, one of the most powerful men to have ever lived, and the close friend of the very first leader to the village, Hashirama Senju. This man's legacy was a hard one, filled with rage, hate, loss, dispair, and at the end, betrayal. It was said that his life had led him to madness, and the end result was chaotic disaster. A fight took place that shook the nations forever, a battle never to be forgotten. In the end, it was his best friend that took him down.

Then came the second ninja world war, and all the legends that arose in the chaos. This war would prove to be the one that truly left its scars on the world. For every battle they won, they lost a great number of their own to the chaos. By the time of the second shinobi world war's end, they had lost more then fifty percent of their fighting force. Not that their enemies fared any better, but it was still worth mentioning.

However, it was this war that produced three undeniable legends. The first was Tsunade Senju, the sole granddaughter of Hashirama Senju, and holder of the title, strongest woman in the world. She was a woman famed for her superhuman strength, her world renowned healing abilities, her beautiful womanly features, and her rather massive bosom.

Then there was Jiraya, a man famed as a sage of sorts. He was know for the creation of many new and powerful Nin-jutsu, as well as his ability to summon powerful toad warriors that would assist him in battle. The man was also known as a pervert, though he claimed to be the biggest pervert in the nation, so it wasn't hard to believe.

Then came Orochimaru. A man that was overtly affected by the war, more mentally then physically. A man already mentally unsound from an estranged childhood, suffered painfully from the horrors of war. Though extremely powerful, and overwhelmingly smart in his own right, he still came up short when it came to the village's moto; The will of fire.

These three had become known as the Legendary Trio. They had proved to be one of the strongest teams in the world, and that title has yet to be passed on to another. However, after the war's end, things changed.

Tsunade had been a victim of loss one too many times, and after the rather bloody loss of her lover Dan, she developed a crippling fear of blood. Unable to escape her past, she became a drunkard and left the village in a sort of extreme long term mission. A mission that would most likely never seen an end till the day she died.

Orochimaru, so affected by death around him, became addicted to finding a way to live forever. His theories eventually gave way to experiments that slowly became more and more inhumane. Where he once experimented on dead animals, it eventually led to human experiments. He eventually began to experiment on his own body in his search for immortality. One day word got out about his horrible deeds, and he fled the village and was labeled as a missing-Nin.

Another war took place years later, a war that would spell the end of all wars for many years. By this time in history, all of the elemental nations had felt the pain of loss, and simply did not have the manpower to mount any more wars. It was partially thanks to a treaty that konoha made that stopped all of the fighting for a time. But this last war still had its drawbacks, and because of it, the world was once again changed forever.

Not even a year after their victory over their sworn enemy, the village hidden the stone, something horrible took place. No one really remembered how it truly happened that fateful night, but everyone remembered the terror that enveloped them when it did. It was in the dead of night when it happened. One moment all was quiet, then suddenly as if from thin air a beast was summoned. A monster so terrifying that many died merely from the killing intent that the beast produced. It was a fox. A nine tailed fox. Only one of its kind existed, and it was famed in legend as being the strongest creature in the entire world. It was also known for its destructive potential, and the untold devastation that it could cause if it so desired. Towering over the village, it's many tails swung about, reeking havoc and chaos. If not for the timely intervention by the Fourth Hokage, the village would have seen its end that night.

The death toll that night was great, and the ones lost were unreplaceable. The Fourth Hokage sacrificed his own life to seal the beast into the body of his newborn son, effectively putting an end to the beast's rampage. With his dying breath he begged the aging third Hokage to protect his child, to allow him to be seen as a hero to the villagers. The third had promised him that he would do so, and he had faith in the village as a whole.

With the beast defeated and the battle over, the third Hokage thought it right to show the village their hero. For it was because of the fourth Hokage's sacrifice and his newborn son's that the village was still standing. He had faith that they would be thankful to him, and see him as a hero just like the Fourth hoped.

But they were wrong. When he made the declaration to the village council, their response was anything but positive. The council had immediately called for the boy's death, calling him a monster, an abomination of life. The Third had pleaded with them to see the good of the situation, but they were abstinent. They would not listen, their minds were already set. Knowing that they would most likely go behind his back and try to kill the child, he hastily created a law that would hopefully do some damage control. It was a simple rule, that if broken was punishable by death. The rule was that no one was to tell anyone outside of the council about the child's containment of the Kyuubi. But they found a way around that, and soon enough the entire village was aware of his exsistance.

The child's safety was in jepordy, and without his help he was sure that he wouldn't survive the night. In an attempt to hide him, he placed him in an orphanage with other babies. He was hoping that because the villagers didn't really know what he looked like that he would be able to hide him. At the very least he just needed to protect him until he could hold his own in life. But accomplishing that would prove to be harder then he thought possible.

As the years slowly passed by, the village's treatment of young Naruto got gradually worse. The Hokage's personal ninja made sure that the kid wasn't killed, but there was only so much that they could do with their busy lives. There were times when his guardians had to be called away for an important mission, leaving him unattended for days on end. Those were the days of his life that would shape him into who he was, and what kind of person he turned out to be in the end. Those were the times in his life that almost broke him, but for some reason he carried on. If one thing was for certain, it was that Naruto was very strong in mind, and it would take a lot to put him in the ground. But the village was tempted to try it anyway.

They would do so much to him, and somehow so much of it went under the radar, letting the punishment continue unaltered. He wasn't free from those his own age it seemed, as the parents had spoken ill of him to their own children, and in turn the children grew to hate him as well. When he was finally old enough to attend the Ninja Academy he was freed from the orphanage entirely, as on his sixth birthday the Hokage got him an apartment to live in away from prying eyes. It was sad to know that something as minor as a rundown apartment was the best thing he had ever received in his life. But the boy loved it like it was his own, and couldn't even bring himself to hate it at all.

His time at the academy, however, would prove to be another test in his life. The teachers there hated him just about as much as the rest if the villagers did. But they were bound by their oath to teach, and couldn't just kick him out. That being said, that didn't stop them from altering his education to a painful degree. His teachers would mistreat him, and punish him for even the smallest of things. The sad thing was, the poor boy was extremely starved for attention and would act out just to get someone to notice him. This of course acted against him, and got him in trouble, and in turn punished.

The boy would try and make friends with the other kids, but they would ignore him or make fun of him. The few times he actually started to become friendly with someone, they were eventually pulled away by their parents and tricked into thinking he was a monster. By this point in his life he had become desperate. He would do anything for attention, attention from anyone, young or old. If the kids didn't like him, then maybe some of the adults would.

Then one day he was approached by one of his ninja guards. The man was someone he had seen many a time, watching him from the shadows. He knew that the Hokage had placed them around him to protect him, but he didn't know why. The man that approached him was nicknamed Snake, mostly like due to the snake mask that he wore.

The man had asked him if he wanted a friend. Of course, Naruto didn't even hesitate to answer. He would do anything for a friend, and he would do anything to keep that friend. So naturally, he accepted the friendship of the ANBU Ninja, never knowing the conciqences of doing so.

From that day forward Naruto would meet up with Snake in his apartment, doing various things. The man said that he was interested in his hidden power, and would do everything he could to unlock it for him, because he was his friend. Naruto trusted him, and allowed him to do whatever he wanted to him. Snake never hurt him, so he had no reason to believe he ever would.

Sometimes Naruto would miss an entire day at the academy, instead spending his time doing mineal tasks for snake. These tasks ranged from the collection of random objects, to the gathering of certain items that snake said he needed. It didn't matter what they were, he gathered them no questions asked.

No one ever really noticed when Naruto would vanish, because he was always back the next day. The only ones that actually took note of his disappearances was a few select children who did not allow themselves to be blinded by the villagers unplaced hatred. Namely Shikamaru Nara, heir to the Nara clan. Kiba Inuzuka, heir to the wild Inuzuka clan. And Hinata Hyuuga, heir to the famed Hyuuga clan. These three had recently come together as the only few that actually saw Naruto as just another kid. There were a few others, but their reasons were different.

Then one day, Naruto simply vanished. Now it wasn't unusual for the boy to disappear for a day or so, but when close to a week passed without hide or hair of him, it was a cause of alarm.

The day before he was last seen, Snake had come over for another visit. This time, however, something was different. Snake had been getting sickly as of late, and nothing seemed to cure his illnesses. Snake said that Naruto could save him, and all he had to do was allow him to temporarily take over his body. A little off put by the declaration at first, he didn't stop snake from attempting his so called forbidden Nin-Jutsu.

The result of the jutsu was disastrous, and it would only be days later before Naruto was found alone, Snake long gone by then...

* * *

It was nearing the later half of the afternoon, and the sun was still up in the sky above the Ninja Academy. The time for learning had just come to an end for the day, and the children had begun to file out of the room, their minds set on what they were going to do for the rest of the afternoon. Iruka, Naruto's homeroom teacher had been rather distracted all day, and it had really started to show. His body was on autopilot as he gathered together the children's homework and assinmeants, but his gaze had been locked onto the window for the past twenty minutes.

He was worried. It had been a few days now since he last saw Naruto, and the stress had been eating away at him. Iruka was another one of the very few in the village that didn't see the boy as a monster, and had even befriend him on a certain level. It would be all to easy to simply hate the boy, but he wasn't like that. He was brought out of his dazed state when he noticed the last few students preparing to leave, and he reached out to them before they could.

"Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru." He called out, grabbing the attention of the three ninja in training. "Are you three busy at the moment?" He asked. The kids shared a glance with each other, before turning back to him.

"No, not really." It was Kiba who spoke up, hands behind his head in a relaxed position. Iruka seemed to ponder something for a moment, before he spoke up again.

"If its not too bothersome, could the three of you go by Naruto's place? I haven't seen him in a few days and I'm starting to worry about him." The man asked, though his face was pleading. It was the Hyuuga heiress that spoke up next.

"W-We'd be happy t-to Iruka-Sensei, right Kiba, Shikamaru?" She responded, eyeing the two boys. Shikamaru seemed to stare off into the distance while Kiba stood there playing with his pet dog Akamaru. She narrowed her eyes in annoyance, and slammed her foot down on theirs, easily gaining their attention. "Right boys?"

"Gah! Yeah! Yeah!" Kiba responded, cradling his foot.

"Ow. Troublesome..." Shikamaru muttered, now paying a bit more attention to his teacher.

"Thank you. I'm sorry to task you three with this, but I simply don't have time to do so myself." Iruka stated, a thankful smile adorning his face. "Do any of you know where he lives?"

"U-Um, I do." Hinata stuttered. The three of them turned to her at her response, and she blushed bright red at their playful looks.

"Well, either way, you should be heading out now. I don't want you three out late, you hear?" Iruka stated, glancing up at the clock. The sun would be setting within an hour or two, and he didn't want them out that late. It would be on his head were something to happen to them.

"Yes Iruka-Sensei!" They all responded. The two boys quickly left the room, quickly followed by Hinata who bowed to Iruka before leaving.

A few minutes later found the three ninja in training on a set course for the Red-Light-District, the part of town where Naruto's apartment was located. Shikamaru looked as if he couldn't be bothered, while Kiba was having trouble not running over to get it over with sooner.

The walk was rather silent, the only sound the quiet late day conversations between some of the villagers. People stopped to greet the trio as they passed, offering up smiles as waving as they went. Hinata waved back out of respect, that and she had to keep up an image in public lest she get punished by her father for acting out.

"So what do you think's wrong?" Kiba asked, his gaze locked onto a stray bird that had busied itself with patrolling the skies. Shikamaru hummed in thought for a moment before turning to him in response.

"Not sure.. Maybe he got sick?" Shikamaru responded in a reaching tone. Kiba mulled the response over for a moment before shaking his head.

"Nah, no way! You ever seen Naruto sick?" He said with laugh. Shikamaru thought about it before he realised that Kiba was right.

"W-Well, Naruto-Kun's n-never been sick before..." Hinata muttered, looking down nervously. This statement had the downside of drawing the two boys attention to her. "W-Well I m-mean..." She stuttered, nervously pressing her fingers together. "I-I-I, u-m.."

"Whoa! Hinata, relax! We ain't making fun of you." Kiba laughed, patting the girl on the back in a sort of friendly gesture. Didn't really have the desired affect, as she was still blushing up a storm. Damage control Kiba! Damage control!

"Oh hey, look! Is that the place?" Kiba said, pointing at a run down looking apartment. Hinata snapped out of her daze, glancing at the building. Genius Kiba, genius.

"Oh uh, maybe not that one..." Kiba laughed nervously. In retrospect, maybe the building covered in offensive graffiti wasn't the first place he should have pointed out. He tried to continue walking when he noticed that Hinata had stopped. "Hey uh, common Hinata, let's not stick around a place like this, we gotta find Naruto." Kiba tried reasoning, taking another glance at the building. The walls of the apartment building were covered with aggressive slurs, such as monster, evil creature, and even demon. It made Kiba sick just looking at it. He honestly didn't know what whoever lived there had to do to earn the wrath of the people, but it must have been pretty horrible.

"Kiba-Kun... T-This is where N-Naruto lives." The statement caught the two boys off guard. Shikamaru's head snapped up in shock at what she said, and Kiba looked like he was green in the face.

"W-Wait.. Hinata, you can't possibly be serious!" Shikamaru said, his tone hopeful. Hinata's head was down, her hands balled into fists at her side. Her lack of a response was a loud indication of the fact that she was telling the truth. The boys turned back to the building again, truly taking in the sight of it. To them, they couldn't believe that someone as kind, loving, and caring as Naruto would live in such a place as this. It just didn't seem possible.

"N-Naruto-Kun's always been treated like this. I wouldn't be s-shocked if he was the only one l-living here..." The Hyuuga heiress muttered.

"What?! Why?!" Kiba practically shouted, fuming at the thought. A few stray tears fell from Hinata's eyes, her gaze locked firmly onto the top window of the building.

"I don't k-know..." She stated, her voice weak. "But they a-always insisted on calling him a M-Monster..." By this point the Hyuuga heiress was shaking with barely restrained emotions. She started walking forward, trudging up the delapidated stairwell towards the top. She wasn't going to just stand around out here while her friend was hurting, it just wasn't who she was.

The two boys shared a concerned look with each other before quickly following after her, intent on checking up on their friend. The stairs creaked and groaned under their combined weight, the building's lack of general maintenance obvious. They passed by many different apartments on their way up, Hinata's assumption about the lack of residence spot on. Most of the doors they passed were broken down, exposing the old shadowy living rooms of times long gone.

It was ominous, unnerving even. With the thunder pounding overhead it painted a stressful scene, one that had the three ninja in training jumping at the slightest sound. As the trio approached the top floor, one of the weaker sections of floor gave way under their weight, resulting it what would have been a dangerous fall if not for their twitchy nerves saving them from the pain.

Kiba gave a weary glance to the newly created hole in the floor. The fall was easily two hundred feet down, lethal for anyone not trained in the ninja arts. A nervous laugh escaped from him as he ushered the group forward a little faster, eager to get to Naruto's apartment and out of the rain.

The one big pitfall aside, the three didn't have too much trouble scaling the building to reach Naruto. It was then that they reached his front door, and surprising to say, but his front was not in nearly the major disrepair that the rest of the building was in. The one main window was even still intact, unlike the ones one the back side of the building. It was also devoid of any graphety, which was probably due to how dangerous it was to even reach his front door... Well, dangerous for a civilian anyway...

"I sure hope he's home..." Kiba muttered, already shivering from the affects the rain was causing. Shikamaru was quick to act, knocking on the door and calling out his name.

"Naruto! Are you there?" Shikamaru called out, his voice being drowned out by the rain. He waited for a moment, but no response came his way. Unwilling to give up so easily, he knocked again, harder this time. "Naruto! Hello!?" He yelled louder, his voice echoing throughout the stormy night. He stood back next to Hinata and Kiba in wait, but after a few moments passed they knew they weren't going to get a response.

"Maybe the guy's not home..?" Kiba said, though from the way it sounded he wasn't so sure of that himself. He would have said more, but stopped himself short when Hinata opened the door and let herself in. Concern quickly filled the minds of the trio at what they saw on the inside.

"O-Oh my.." Hinata muttered, staring in shock at the destroyed interior of Naruto's apartment. His living room was trashed, with most of the furniture torn up badly. Pillows were shredded, leaving their stuffing strewn about everywhere. It looked as if something exploded in his living room... "No!" Hinata shouted suddenly, running headfirst into Naruto's house. Before the two boys could ask what had her upset they spotted the shredded remains of Naruto's trademark orange jumpsuit littering the ground.

Both Shikamaru and Kiba quickly joined Hinata who was kneeling down next to the bloody torn remains of Naruto's clothes. Shikamaru stood back, his mind reeling at the sight. The blood was everywhere, but there was no sign of Naruto or his... body. Shikamaru took a shaky breath to try and calm his racing mind. He scanned the room, looking for anything out of place. Then he saw it. There was fur littering the ground, untouched by the blood. It was a firey orange in color, and it seemed to trail off into another room.

"Kiba..." Shikamaru muttered quietly, gaining the other boy's attention. The ferel looking ninja in training was quick to join back at his side. "I think there's something in here..." He informed, pointing to the doorway that led to the small bedroom only a few paces away. Kiba was quick to use his nose, catching the live sent of something else in the house, something distinctly not human. And yet... "I think we shou- Kiba what are you doing?!" Shikamaru hissed as Kiba went to open the door. By this point Hinata had stood up and joined up with Shikamaru again.

Shikamaru would have tried to stop him, but he was more worried about what lay on the other side of the bedroom door that Kiba had just opened. The opened with a loud creek as the rusty hinges strained against the weight. Hinata's voice caught in her throat at the sight before her. Her eyes couldn't leave it, no matter what her brain said. In the dark, almost lightless room lay before them all a fox, a nine tailed fox to be precise. It's crimson colored fur shone in the darkness surrounding it, its tails coiled up to it protectively. It was large, definitely larger then any normal fox had the right to be. It was larger then Kiba's mother's ninja hound, and those dogs were large. She could only compare the beast's size to that of a clidesdale, one of the largest horses known to exist. It's face was framed with two thick lines of black fur that started from the flare of the eye and extended all the way up into its ear, ending at the tip. It's face seemed to be pulled into one of extreme discomfort. Her eyes glanced down to the white claws that gleamed in the darkness, sharpened to a dangerously sharp point.

The beast looked powerful and extremely dangerous. And yet, with it sleeping there, she found it beautiful in a strange sort of way. It also looked as if it could tear them apart in a matter of seconds, easily. Yet that didn't deter her from thinking that it was cute in strange way. Like a giant stuffed animal, very cuddly.

"W-Wait.. I-Is that...?" Hinata muttered suddenly as she caught the sight of something around the beast's neck. Drawing the others attention to it they were quick to spot what she did. A white collar was situated around its neck, a collar that connected to the tattered remains of an orange jumpsuit belonging to one Uzumaki Naruto.

"How did that thing even..." Kiba trailed off, too shocked to even respond properly. He turned back to Hinata who was too busy not paying attention to him to pay attention to him.

Meanwhile Shikamaru's mind was racing. He was slowly starting to connect the dots as more and more things began to make sense. The attack from the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune eleven years ago was no secret, nor was the way that in its defeat it suddenly vanished into thin air. Many of the higher ups knew the reason, but the main majority was left unaware. It was common knowledge however, that the villagers of Konoha seemed to suddenly turn their grief into hatred, and that hatred had been directed at young Naruto. The explanation was unknown, but Shikamaru had deduced that it had something to do with Naruto's uncanny resemblance to a fox, with his whisker marks and more angular face and pointed eyes. That seemed like a very childish reason to direct all their hatred on him, but he realized that there was something more behind it. There had to be, and he believed that what lay before them was that proof. It seemed impossible, but it also seemed like it was the only thing that made sense at the moment. The other two had a similar train of thought, although for different reasons.

''Well, here goes nothing...'' Shikamaru thought, before surprising the other two as he walked towards the sleeping fox. "Naruto..?" He called out uncertainly, teaching out towards the fox. The response he got he would have to wait to determine whether it was a good one or not. Tightly closed eyelids snapped open, revealing the blood red slitted eyes that lay beneath. Shikamaru flinched back from the suddenness of its reaction. Shikamaru would only call what happened afterwards as chaotic, as the second the fox's eyes opened it started scanning the room wildly, as if looking for something or even someone. But when it couldn't find whatever it was looking for, it became greatly dismayed.

**"No... No No No...!"** It spoke suddenly, the dispair in its voice very apparent as it stood up, its limbs shaking under its own weight. Shikamaru and the others stood back suddenly as its tails began to wave sporadically, as if they had a mind of their own. The trio fell to the ground as a stray tail flew overhead, nearly taking Kiba's head off. **"H-He-... He left me..! Why.!?"** It started to cry out, slamming its claws to the ground in agony. They watched on in morbid curiosity as tears began to fall from its eyes before it fell back to the ground, its strength giving out. The tails that were flying around also gave out, landing back on the ground with a thud. Now the beast was left laying there, tired, exhausted, and emotionally drained from whatever problem troubled it.

Hinata felt horrible as she stood there watching it struggle, unable to do anything to soothe the strange beast's woes. She couldn't help but compare it now to a puppet that had its strings cut as it lay there almost lifelessly, the energy it had seemingly sucked away. Silent tears fell from its eyes as it lay there, staring blankly at a wall, completely oblivious to the three human's next to it. Kiba was content to stay there and not move, and Shikamaru was busy trying to calm his racing heart. It was Hinata that dared to approach the beast after its little outburst. With her heart pounding in her ears and her breathing heavy, she shakily approached the fox with an outstretched hand.

"H-H-Hey there b-big guy..." The Hyuuga Heiress said as she slowly inched her way over to it. It's gaze was still locked on the wall, the only sign that it even heard her was the slight twitch of its ear. Deciding to try and push her luck, she continued closer to it. Sneaking up at its side she slowly placed her hand upon its head, gently petting the crimson fur. It was probably the softest thing she had ever felt in her entire life, and that was saying a lot. She could visibly see the tension in its shoulders start to fade away under ministrations, and its breathing began to slow. It was only then after it had calmed significantly that it actually took notice of the three people in its room, and more importantly, the supple hand that was petting its head.

It's vision was blurred by the tears, but it clearly made out the shapes of three people it knew by heart. Red eyes panned up to meet the pale eyes of its friend, the Hyuuga Heiress, Hinata.

**"Hina- Hinata..?"** His voice was dry and raspy, but still managed a deep dark tone. The trio's eyes widened as the fox spoke her name, and the reality finally struck them. The nine tailed fox that lay weakened before them, was non other then their friend they had been searching for. Naruto.

His body trembled as Hinata swiftly brought him into a hug, as awkward as it was, but it meant everything to the fox. He tried to stand up but his legs shook under his weight before he collapsed back to the ground. The other two were at his side without a moment to waste.

"Woah! Alright! Let's not do that again!" Kiba urged as he stopped Naruto from trying to stand up again, lest he hurt himself. The fox wearily turned to face the fairle looking kid.

**"Kiba..."** He muttered, before turning to face the other member of the group. Shikamaru gave the kid turned fox a lazy wave in response. "Wha-What are you-?" He rasped out before being shushed by Hinata who's hands were quickly putting him to sleep with how comforting they were.

"It's okay N-Naruto-Kun, just r-rest now." Hinata said as she gently urged his head to join with his paws of the floor. He tried to resist for a moment before ultimately giving in to her order and laying back down. Hinata deftly ran her fingers over his frame, and something quickly became very apparent to her. She could feel the bone under the fur and skin, and not much else. The reason being became apparently obvious when a loud growling was heard coming from Naruto's stomach. She quickly bent down, running her hands over the massive fox's belly, the rib bones outlined because of lack of nourishment.

"You're s-starving!" She exclaimed in abject horror as another loud growl echoed throughout the room. It was then that the other two actually took the time to look the fox over in detail, and sure enough they found that he was thin, dangerously so. His limbs were lacking in muscle definition and fat, and the same could be said for the rest of his fur covered body. His ears wouldn't stay up and his eyes looked like the light had faded away, leaving behind a soulless husk. And his lips were dried and cracked, showing the level of dehydration he was at. It brought tears to the young Heiresses eyes.

"Crap! Kiba, do you have anything on you?" Shikamaru grunted, as he ran to the bathroom sink to try and fill a bowl of water. He knew it wasn't much, but it would have to do for the time being.

"Oh uh, um, yeah yeah!" Kiba responded uncertainly as he patted himself down for food of any sort. The only thing he had was a nutrition bar that he snagged from the academy cafeteria earlier that day. He didn't think it would put a dent in the fox's stomach, but he at least hoped that it would hold him over long enough for them to find something more suitable. His mind was still reeling at the fact that his friend was somehow turned into a fox, or that his friend was always a giant nine tailed fox, he didn't know which was the truth. But even then, that didn't stop him from acting when it was required of him to do so.

Kiba deftly tossed the bar over to Hinata who caught it without turning away from Naruto. The lavender haired girl gently pet the fox before sliding her hand down under his chin, gaining his attention. His eyes glanced at the bar in her hand as she raised it up to his lips, and at her prompting opened his mouth. He swallowed the bar whole, before resting his head back down. Hinata knew that it wouldn't satisfy him, but she was doing what she could with what she had. She resumed petting him when a pained whine escaped him, his eyes closed and his breathing slowed.

Shikamaru ran back into the room with a bowl of water, and at his prompting Naruto opened his mouth again. The water had a soothing effect on his dry throat, and when the bowl was empty Shikamaru ran back to fill another. An uncomfortable silence followed after that, with the only sound being the poor fox's pained whimpers. The sound was slowly pulling the Hyuuga Heiress's heart apart. The girl was already an animal lover to begin with, so this was a real test of her resolve.

* * *

An hour had passed since the trio found Naruto. After the initial shock wore off, the three Ninja in training took it upon themselves to make sure that they did everything they could for their friend in need. At least now that Naruto was out of threat of death via starvation or dehydration, they could work on figuring out how to help him with the other major problem...

For example...

"What are we going to do..?" Kiba asked out loud, glancing around the room with a nervous fervor. Now that they knew Naruto wasn't going to die, the reality of the situation started to dawn on them. What were they going to do? They couldn't spend the rest of their lives taking care of a giant nine tailed fox. None of them even knew how to care for normal foxes, let alone this one. That problem aside, how in the world were they going to hide him? It wasn't like no one would notice that Naruto suddenly disappeared off the face of planet, people would notice.

In fact, people had noticed, that was the main reason that they found him in the first place. They couldn't keep this a secret forever, the truth would eventually find its way to the light one way or another, no matter how much they tried to stop it. That and the fact that they still had lives of their own to attend to, and it would be very hard to just vanish for random amounts of time every day without being noticed.

In fact, the sun had already gone down a while ago now, and they could be sure that their respective family's had noticed that their children had yet to come home from school. If they didn't leave now, they would be in serious trouble. They knew that, and yet, one of them was having trouble pulling herself away.

"Hinata, common. We've got to get going." Shikamaru urged, trying to separate the young Heiress from the fox's grasp. Hinata was practically in tears at the thought of having to leave Naruto alone in the situation he was in.

"B-But... We c-can't just leave him!" She responded hotly, her eyes puffy. The pineapple haired teen sighed in response, as he had already had this conversation with her once that evening. He knew he would have to play into her caring role to even attempt to pull her away from her friend in need.

"I understand! But we don't have the necessities to care for him here. Do you even know how to care for a fox in general?" Shikamaru stated with a frown. Hinata pulled back at that. She really didn't want to leave him, but Shikamaru was right. Hinata didn't know how to care for a fox. More importantly, no one here knew what it took to care for a Nine-Tailed-Fox, so they wouldn't be of much help anyway...

That and the fact that Naruto most definitely did not own enough to survive for even two days alone. Ramen was not enough to keep a two thousand pound beast alive, or at the very least healthy, for very long. Yes, she would have to leave him.

"N-Naruto-Kun...?" Hinata prodded, shaking the fox lightly to gain his attention. He had been resting ever since they fed him earlier, but woke to her gentle touch. He blearily brought his head around to face her, the way his eyes sagged pulled at the young Heiress's heartstrings.

"I-I wish we didn't have t-to, but we cannot stay. I-I'm sorry, but-" Hinata stated quietly, gently petting the massive fox in an effort to calm both his nerves and her own. But a fear began to take hold of his mind. He didn't want to be left alone again. He felt so lonely when Snake abandoned him, he couldn't bear to go through that again, especially in his current state of mind and body.

**"What? No! Don't leave me!"** His voice was shaky as he tried to stand again. Hinata pulled his head into her embrace in a vain attempt to calm him back down. **"P-Please don't leave me alone here..."** He muttered quietly, which sounded quite strange considering his deep growly tone of voice attained from the transformation.

"We'll be back, you can count on it." Shikamaru chimed in, adding his attempt at assuring the fox. He pat the fox on his head, his hand getting lost in the fur.

"Yeah man! We ain't gonna ditch you! We're here for you dude." Kiba assured in his own way, flashing a bright smile for affect. All of their responses helped assure him, but his heart still worried.

"Now c-come on. You need your rest." Hinata said softly, her petting finally getting the better of him. He eventually started to fall asleep after some coaxing, and the trio silently snuck away. It was dark out, and they knew that it was going to be hard hiding this from their parents. But that wasn't going to stop them from trying. Over everything that they believed in, taking care of their friends was first as a priority.

END


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes**

Many apologies for the insufferably long wait, but I assure you that I'm going to continue this one. I'm all ears for ideas, so feel free to send reviews my way. That being said, I hope that you enjoy.

* * *

**LEGEND BELOW**

"In the beginning..." = Normal speech.

_''I kinda wanted to know.''_ = Normal thoughts.

**"You dare to defy me!?" **= Unknown speech.

**_''That's what I thought.''_** = Unknown thoughts.

* * *

The next morning had not come quickly for the trio of ninja in training. The three of them had ended up staying up late the night prior, the events of the night keeping them from sleep. None of them were ready for the shock that they experienced that night, and what they witnessed would forever go down as one of their bigger life changing moments. They knew that from that night on, going forward things were not going to stay the same.

When the three quietly made it out of Naruto's that night, they were suddenly assaulted with a painful realization. They promised their friend that they would help him in his time of need, and they weren't going to go back on that. But that didn't mean that they weren't getting in drastically over their heads, and they knew it. The realization of the bad situation they found themselves in weighed heavily on their minds, and they were terrified to say that they really didn't have any idea of how to fix it, or even help.

It wasn't their fault that something horrible happened to their friend, but now it seems that his life was about to become even more intertwined between their own. The three ninja trainees split ways that night, vowing to regroup the next day to hopefully attempt to figure something out. Tired and emotionally exhausted, they went home, leaving their human turned nine tailed fox friend home alone.

When the next day finally came around, it was obvious to their parents that something had happened. Shikamaru had a nervous energy that he never had before, a definite difference from his usual lazy self. Hinata had been nervously pressing her fingers together the entire morning, more then she usually does. And Kiba couldn't hide the scent of Fox on his body from his mother. Three separate families were aware that something happened, but were unable to place their fingers on what. They dismissed the oddities as nothing more than irrelevant issues. However, that did not mean that they weren't attentive now a bit more the usual.

The three academy students grouped up early in the morning to have a bit of a discussion pertaining to their so called 'situation'. Keeping Naruto a secret was a priority they decided, one they would try to adhere to above all. It was clear to them from what they saw that night that his body was in no condition to do much of anything, forget taking care of himself. They needed to get him healthy again, and none of them knew how to take care of a nine tailed fox. Which was a big problem in their plan.

Kiba proposed that he involve his older sister, Hana, in the situation, since she was one of the best local veterinarians. While it seemed like a good idea at first, Shikamaru was worried about how she might initially react to Naruto. But at the same time, they really needed all the help they could get. Shikamaru realized that it was a risk that they were going to need to take. They were all too young and inexperienced to take on the ninja world alone, they 'needed' the experience and strength of an adult that they could trust with their secrets.

Of course, if this first attempt at gaining help went south, they doubted that there would be another chance. But Kiba wasn't too worried about it, he doubted that his sister would be 'that' cold hearted to their situation. That being said...

* * *

"K-Kiba-Kun, are you s-sure about this?" Hinata couldn't help but reiterate her concern about the decision they were about to make. The three of them were currently standing right outside of the Inuzuka Clan's Veterinary Clinic, and last moment jitters seem to have taken hold of Hinata. Of course, Kiba was positive that his older sister would see things their way.

"Relax Hinata! Sis will have my back for sure! There's nothing to worry about." Kiba responded with a laugh, attempting to ward off that little voice of doubt whispering in his ear. He was trying to act as if he was full of energy, but the black lines around his eyes gave away his bluff.

"Let's just go inside." Shikamaru muttered, stifling a yawn as he did. There was a clear slouch in his stance, more so then usual. Without anymore delays, the three entered the building, walking up to the front receptionist's counter. The woman sitting behind the counter was another of Kiba's clan members, a woman that was friends with Hana.

"Hey, is Hana in?" Kiba asked. The woman turned to face him, recognizing him immediately as Hana's younger brother.

"Hana? Yes she's in right now. She's not busy or anything, so you could head back and find her." She said with a toothy grin. "I'm sure she'd appreciate the company."

"Cool thanks." Kiba responded as the three of them made their way down to Hana's office. They made their way past a few doors before they came across the door to her office. Kiba knocked a few times before they got a response.

"It's open!" Came the tough yet kind voice of Hana through the door. Kiba shared a quick look with the other two, before opening the door. They opened the door to find Hana sitting at her desk skimming through many different paper forms, all likely related to her patients. The woman gave one last glance at the papers before giving her attention to her unexpected guests. "Oh, hey Kiba. Didn't expect to see you here today. What's going on?" Hana asked with a smile.

"Hey Sis, we uh... We kinda need your help." Kiba said with a nervous laugh. The nervousness in his voice and the clear lack of sleep quickly caught Hana's attention.

"Alright, what's up?" She asked. Kiba seemed to struggle with his words for a moment before responding.

"Well uh, we kinda came across an ah, 'animal' of sorts that needs our help. But we don't really know how to take care of it..." Kiba explained in a sort of roundabout way.

"Okay... Well if you've got an animal that needs attention then just bring it in to me. I'll check it out for you no problem." Hana responded. Although Kiba's next response would confuse her.

"We can't..."

"What? What do you mean 'you cant'?" She asked. Kiba struggled to find a way to convey what they needed without saying it outright, which was much harder then he thought it would be. Sensing his struggle, Shikamaru decided to take over explaining.

"What we mean, is that it can't be moved from where it's at. We don't really know anything about taking care of one of its kind, and we were hoping that you would." Shikamaru explained. He wanted to get straight to the point, and found no reason to beat around the bush right now.

"I see. If it can't be moved then I'll just have to check it out with you three. You said you don't know anything about it's kind? What kind of animal is it?" She questioned seriously, preparing to pack her mobile kit.

"I-It's a fox." This time it was Hinata who spoke up, pushing aside her nervousness to help spread some clarity for the woman. The short burst of surprise on Hana's face was almost missed by the trio, but they still caught it.

"A fox huh? I haven't seen many of those around here lately. Come on, let's go patch up your little friend." She said with a smile, grabbing her bag as she moved past the other three. "I'm going to be out for a little." With a wave to the receptionist, Hana left the building with the three young ninja in training following behind her.

"So where is your little friend?" Hana asked as they strolled down the road.

"He's at our friend's place over in the Red-Light-District... And uh, he's not little..." Kiba informed with a laugh. Hana couldn't help but feel like they were purposely leaving something out. That, and the fact that they had a friend who lived in the red light district really was a bit concerning. Then something else clicked.

"Wait, what do you mean he's not little?" She couldn't help but feel a little lost. What kind of fox wasn't small?

* * *

It took around ten minutes for all of them to reach the red light district. Hana for her part was still trying to figure out why they were nose deep inside the scumiest part of Konoha. She also wanted to know why they personally knew anyone that would live in the area. It wasn't safe for a multitude of reasons. Sure they weren't normal kids, ninja training and all that, but still.

"So where exactly are we going?" Hana couldn't help ask again. Surrounding them were some old dilapidated buildings, some still in use, and one in particular not.

"W-Well, here a-actually..." Hinata muttered, pointing at the graffiti covered apartment complex. Hana's face fell at that.

"You can't be serious..." She said lowly, hoping that she misheard. Now she recognized the place, if the graffiti didn't already give it away. This was where the 'scourge', as the villagers so aptly named, lived.

Now Hana never really gave the boneheaded rumors that the villagers passed around much thought, but that didn't mean that she also sided with Naruto. Personally, she didn't know the kid, and she never really wanted to. She didn't spite him or anything, but she saw no need to introduce herself into his life. That being said, she had a feeling that it was about to change. Wether for better or for worse she had no way of knowing.

"Unfortunately, she's right." Shikamaru spoke up, before making his way up the stairs. "Listen... Just promise us you won't freak out, alright?" Hana for her part couldn't help but hold back a chuckle.

"I've been a ninja for four years now, it'll have to be quite something to surprise me." Hana stated with a grin. "But sure, I won't freak out." Shikamaru rolled his eyes at her attitude, before hopping across the broken staircase.

"Well then prepare to be surprised..." With his piece said, Shikamaru opened Naruto's front door. Almost immediately Hana noticed that something felt off. Like a presence in the air, it felt different then normal. Using her keen sense of smell she picked up the overlaying scent of a fox, and ramen? She glanced around, but it seemed like the only other people in the place was them.

"Where's your little friend? Doesn't he live here?" Hana asked. When she did however, she noticed that the mood dropped, so she wisely stopped asking. "Alright then, where is this fox of yours?" She asked seriously. Kiba was about to speak up when the sound of something falling over echoed throughout the apartment.

"He's in there." Kiba stated, pointing at the trashed bedroom door. With a small moment of pause, Kiba knocked on the door. "Hey Naruto, budy... you still in there? It's me, Kiba." He asked through the door. Hana just watched on in confusion.

_''Wasn't Naruto the name of the fox kid? Why would...''_ Hana mentally questioned, trying to piece it together. Before that thought could go anywhere, the sound of something shuffling on the other side of the door was heard. She could hear loud deep breathing coming from the other side, it sounded animal in nature. A few moments passed in silence, before a voice sounded through.

**"Kiba...?"** Hana was a bit surprised by the growly sounding voice, as she wasn't expecting anything. There was a shuffling on the other side of the door following the voice, the sound of something large standing up.

"Hey dude, how you holding up in there?" He asked, leaning against the wall.

**"I.. I don't know... I'm just trying to hold it.. together.."** The breaking in his voice was clear to everyone in the room. The three of them for their part couldn't even begin to understand just what kind of affects this had on him, and so the most they could do was try their best to help. That's the main reason they brought Hana along with them. **"You're not going to leave me again.. are you?"** The desperation in his voice was heartbreaking, and Hinata felt herself on the verge of tears.

"I-It's okay Naruto-Kun! We're here now." Hinata spoke softly in an attempt to assure him that she meant the truth. "W-We brought help with us. She knows about animals, s-she can help you." She was trying to keep him calm in this situation, all things considered. "C-Can we come in?" There was silence for a moment before he spoke up again in a tired and broken voice.

**"Sure..."** With that said, Hinata went ahead and opened the door. When Hana caught sight of who, or more importantly, what was talking to them from the other room, she suddenly realized why Shikamaru asked her to not freak out.

"Oh my god..." They glanced back at Hana from her muttered response of shock, weary of how she'd react to finally seeing Naruto. She didn't know what she was expecting, but a living breathing nine tailed fox was definitely 'not' it.

Hinata was quick to join Naruto's side, resting beside him. He was laying on the floor rather indignantly, his head down and his eyes downcast. All nine of his massive tails were strewn about randomly in the room. From the way he lay so still one could almost believe him to be dead, were it not for the small shift from his light breathing. The lack of life in his movement was scary, and worried the three academy students to no end.

"Hey buddy, we brought my sis over. She might be able to help you." Kiba said, taking a seat beside the fox. Naruto tore his gaze away from the ground to find Hana standing in the doorway in shock. From the smell he could tell that she was surrounded by animals a lot, dogs in particular.

"So, what can you do?" It was Shikamaru that spoke up, breaking the woman from her dazed state.

"I'm not.. what?" Her mind was still reeling from shock, and it took her a minute to gather her thoughts. "Sorry, what did you need?"

"Naruto. Can you help Naruto?" He asked again, hinting to the nine tailed fox laying on the floor.

"I uh, what? I don't.. I, hold on..." She took a moment to gather herself. "What the hell is going on?" Shikamaru sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"That used to be our blond haired friend Naruto, and now he's a starving nine tailed fox! You tell me what's wrong here!" Shikamaru hissed quietly so as to not disturb Naruto. Although it didn't matter much seeing as his new large ears were much more then capable of picking up things.

"Okay, so how did this happen?" She couldn't help but ask.

"We have no idea. Naruto didn't show up to the academy for a week and we were sent to find him and we came across him in this state. Now you know as much as we do." Shikamaru grunted, crossing his arms.

"P-Please Hana-San, can you h-help him?" Hinata pleaded, turning to the woman. Hana for her part took a deep calming breath before nodding.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do... But making him human again I cannot." She spoke softly, setting her bag down. Approaching him slowly, Hana knelt down in front of him, reaching a hand out to pet his head. "Alright champ, let's see what's wrong..." She spoke softly, running her hands through his surprisingly soft red fur...

* * *

Around an hour had passed since they arrived at Naruto's place, and in that time Hana had been going through with a medical check up on the fox as best she could. But with a total lack of knowledge on the subject that was a nine tailed fox, she was forced to rely on her knowledge of normal one tailed foxes and pray that the two had similar genetics. So far they were similar in most places, save for the 'obvious' differences.

While the check up was in progress, she had Naruto try to explain to the best of his abilities what he remembered from the past week. That was where they ran into something. He explained that his memory of the past two weeks was fuzzy at best. He said that it hurt to remember, and for the time being they let it drop.

As for the examination itself, she didn't run into too many problems. His teeth and claws were clean and strong, not to mention sharp as hell. His vision was perfect, and much sharper then she expected. His breathing and heart rate were fine, blood pressure wasn't high, at least she thought so. No nerve damage suffered, and his sense of smell was stronger then even her own. His muscles were very strong as well, probably to hold up all the added weight of his new body.

So far the only problems she ran across was the mental trauma suffered from whatever or whoever did this to him, and the lack of food and water. The last two could easily be fixed, but the first was way out of her league. There were some other things she wanted to check, but decided against it for the time being. Perhaps a more private checkup later to cover some more personal issues...

"S-So how is h-he?" Hinata asked quietly, calmly petting Naruto's head that was resting in her lap. Naruto was resting now after finishing the checkup. When Hana finished she gave Naruto three super food pills, medical grade super nutrient bars that quickly supplied the body with all the nutrition that it was lacking. That and a gallon of water. After that he fell asleep with his head in Hinata's lap.

"Well, all things considered, he's in perfect health... At least I believe so anyway..." Hana's sure and yet unsure response couldn't help but come off as a little off putting. "I've never worked on a nine tailed fox before, so that's the best answer I can give right now." She wished she had more to offer, but that was all she had at the time being. Maybe if she learned more about the inner workings of his new body she would be of more assistance.

"So what do we do now?" Kiba asked, looking up to his sister. Hana took in a deep breath, letting the silence hang for a moment before responding.

"I think the Hokage needs to know of this..." She said with a frown, turning back to the massive sleeping fox.

"Are you sure? You know how much the villagers already hate him." Shikamaru responded.

"If we hide this from him, then that will only produce problems later down the line." She said back. "He needs to know now, before someone else finds out first." They have him hidden here only for the time being. They have no way of knowing if and when someone else would come by to check up on him. No, their best bet would be to inform the Hokage as soon as possible.

"I don't believe he's that busy today. I want you three to stay here while I go and speak with him." Hana said, standing up as she began to gather her things back into her bag.

"What? No way! We're coming with you!" Kiba responded, standing up to join her.

"Kiba look-" Hana started, only for Shikamaru to interrupt.

"No he's right. We're coming with. I believe it will help." Shikamaru said. Hana sighed, seeing as they weren't going to take no for an answer. They all turned back to Hinata, who clearly wasn't going to move, if not because of the fox sleeping on her lap, then because she just wanted to stay with him.

"I-I'll stay here with N-Naruto-Kun..." Hinata whispered, petting the sleeping fox. "I t-think he needs the company right n-now..." She muttered softly. Naruto was out cold, and the thought of waking him right now was out of the question for her.

"Alright then. We'll hopefully be back soon. Come on you two, let's get moving." Hana stated, already heading for the door. Kiba and Shikamaru shared a quick look before following after her. With them gone, that left Hinata and Naruto alone. A Hyuuga Heiress and her nine tailed fox...

* * *

It was around noon in this village of Konohagakure, and a quiet air had settled around the Hokage's Tower. The old man for his part had been held up finishing old paperwork from the night prior, and had only just recently finished. He had no important meetings scheduled today, so the rest of his afternoon was open. Today would be the first day in a while that he had almost completely free, and he was going to spend that time wisely.

"It's days like this that I wish you were still here..." He muttered quietly to himself, taking a longing look at an old family photo on his desk. With a tired sigh that could only come from a man of his experience, he reached for his hidden cigar stash. He was about to light it when his intercom went off.

"Hokage-Sama. We have one Hana Inuzuka here to see you. She says it's urgent." His secretary chimed in with an oddly cheery tone. With an annoyed sigh he dropped his cigar and lighter as he pressed the button to respond.

"What does she need?" He asked with a grunt, already feeling a headache starting to form.

"She says it's about Naruto, Hokage-Sama." She informed. The other side of the com was silent for a moment, and the secretary thought that he might have hung up on her. "Hokage-Sa-"

"Send her up..." He interrupted suddenly after a long pause. With the go ahead given, the secretary permitted the trio passage through to him office. While they made their way to his office, he sat silently pondering what the reasoning behind the Inuzuka clan leader's daughter's sudden unexpected arrival.

His secretary said it was about Naruto, so it was either bad or really bad. Not anything against the boy, the world was too far against him for it to almost ever be anything good. Both parents die at his birth, and has the Kyuubi sealed inside him. Villagers hate him because of their misplaced hatred. What's next? The Kyuubi's unleashed on the world again? Too much, too much for anyone to mentally handle all at once.

A knock at his office door broke him from his downtrodden thoughts. With a sigh he signaled his hidden Anbu ninja to let them in.

"Enter." He announced. A moment later the doors opened, and in walked Hana and two others who he recognized as two of the young clan heirs. "Ah, Hana Inuzuka, what brings you here today?"

"Hokage-Sama." The woman said with a respectful bow. "I'm sorry to bother you suddenly, but it's extremely urgent." She said seriously.

"So I heard. What's this about young Naruto-Kun?" He asked, resting his head on his hands. Hana straightened out a little at his question, trying to think of a way to properly answer.

"Well, to be frank, Hokage-Sama, we have a problem..." Hana started. The sandamai leaned forward giving her his attention. "It's an issue revolving around his... predicament.." She said, motioning to her stomach, the same place the seal that which the Kyuubi was contained in resided on Naruto. Suddenly the Hokage was serious, and with a subtle hand signal he ordered his ANBU to put up a silencing seal around the room, preventing any sound from getting in or out.

"Alright then, Hana Inuzuka. I'm all ears. What? Is wrong? With Naruto?" The air in the room changed, and a tense feeling settled. The Hokage was serious now, and any joking would do no good with him. When it came down to the safety and well-being of his surgoget grandson, he did not mess around. Hana for her part, could feel all of her Inuzuka driven confidence being driven away by the look the Hokage was giving her right then. She needed to let him know that she was on his and Naruto's side, not the side of the blinded villagers.

"W-With all due respect, Hokage-Sama; I'm not here to get Naruto in trouble." Hana said carefully. "Nor am I here to brake a certain law." She stated, hinting towards the law that prevented anyone from openly speaking about the fact that Naruto contained the Kyuubi. She could see the sandamie's features soften at her words, and she carefully continued explaining.

"Earlier today, I was informed of Naruto's current state of being by these two here." She said, motioning to the two young clan heirs behind her who had up until now stayed respectfully silent. "These two, along with their little Hyuuga Heiress, trusted me enough to inform me of a worrying situation that their friend Naruto found himself in." The Hokage turned his attention from the Inuzuka to the two younger kids.

"Is this true?" He felt like he already knew the answer, but as the Hokage he had to ask them anyway.

"Y-Yes, Hokage-Sama!" The two responded together. The old man sighed before straightening out.

"Okay. So what is Naruto's current state of being?" He asked, concern starting to leak from his body language. "Is he okay?" The silence that followed his question was concerning, and the way the three looked between each other was not a good sign.

"W-Well... As for medically speaking, he's fine... The problem is, I don't really know what constitutes as 'fine' for a nine tailed fox..." The Hokage practically choked on his own spit at her sudden announcement, and he had to take a moment to figure out wether she was serious or not. He stared her in the eyes, and found no amount of deceit in her. There was also no hidden hatred for young Naruto, only worry and concern.

"I'm sorry, could you please elaborate?" The old man coughed out the demand. He didn't want to believe her, there was no way that what she said could be true. Yet as he sat there watching her stand straight, he almost knew it to be true.

"...Fuzzy, uh, nine... nine tails, furry, teeth sharp red eyes, um... big..?" Kiba decided to be the one to further explain to the Hokage, and colorfully explained everything. Shikamaru facepalmed in the background, dumbstruck as to why Kiba was the one offering the explanation; Although he had to admit that he pretty much covered everything in the span of five seconds, poorly handled as it was.

"Well, I think that pretty much sums it up..." Hana muttered, narrowing her eyes at her younger brother for embarrassing her in front of the Hokage. The three patiently waited for any response from the Hokage, knowing full well that he was just assaulted with a surplus of information without any breathing room.

"God... How did this happen?" He asked quietly, suddenly seeming older then he was. The three looked at each other uncertainly, not one of them actually had the answer to that question.

"We don't know... None of us do." Hana responded, unsure of how to really treat the situation.

"Where is he now?" He demanded, searching under his desk for his all seeing glass orb.

"He's sleeping on the Hyuuga princess at his apartment." Hana responded with arms crossed. Hiruzen's eyes softened at her response. At least someone was caring for the young boy-... young nine tailed fox... Just thinking of that hurt him. The man crossed his hands in a hand-seal, activating the so called crystal ball. Not a moment later the visage of an apartment room appeared, and in it was a nine tailed fox that was sleeping alongside the pale eyed princess.

Hiruzen seemed stricken when he lay his eyes upon Naruto. He had wanted to believe everything that Hana was saying was a lie or maybe misinformation. But there was no tricking the crystal ball.

"Is he.." The man struggled to find the right words. "Is that still him..?" He asked, his eyes glued to the image. He silently begged and pleaded with anyone willing to listen to his plea, that the innocent boy he knew and loved was still in there, and not gone.

"I don't think I can answer that truthfully... Before today, I've almost never interacted with the kid." Hana spoke with a frown. She wished she had more to offer to the aged Hokage, but that would have to suffice.

"Hokage-Sama, if I may?" Shikamaru spoke up suddenly, using Hana's lack of knowledge as a way to interject into the conversation. The man didn't respond verbally, but nodded at him anyhow. "I believe that is still the same Naruto that you know. When we first found him, he knew who we all were and only calmed down after we reassured him that we wouldn't leave him." Shikamaru explained, retracing the recent events. "Hokage-Sama, he's scared. He seemed to think that he'd been abandoned, but by who we don't know. He freaked out at first, but Hinata seemed capable of making him... docile.?" The pineapple haired boy related, confusion marring his last words.

"Docile?" Hiruzen repeated in concern. That didn't sound good.

"He may have thrashed his apartment a bit..." Kiba laughed nervously. The Hokage looked like he was going to have a heart attack at the mental image. "Oh uh, but don't worry, he's chill now!" The boy hurried to add in, his nervous laughter dying down.

Silence followed the boy's statement, and the two boys stepped back to let Hana control again. Hana looked as if she had more to say, but nothing more was to be said. What more could she say? What more was there to say? She decided to let the Hokage decide when to speak again, and hope that he had something positive to say about the situation at hand.

Hiruzen let out a long strained sigh, clasping his hands together in front of him. He closed his eyes tight, before opening them and staring at the three before him. Whatever was currently running through his mind, the trio had no idea.

"...Leave me..." He spoke quietly, but not lacking strength. Kiba felt like he wanted to say something, but stopped at the look his sister gave him. "I need to be alone right now..." His eyes weren't on them, inside staring at the wall behind them.

"Of course, Hokage-Sama." Hana bowed, pulling the other two to the door. She stopped on her way out at his words.

"Thank you, for bringing this to my attention..." He spoke again, his tone soft. Hana offered him a nod, before leaving him. The door to his office closed, and his gaze drift back down to the all seeing crystal ball on his desk. A nine tailed fox... he couldn't believe it. He had always feared that the seal might weaken someday, but he never even considered something like this happening. A few traits that resembled the beast he contained at most, not this, not turning into a nine tailed fox completely!

How was this possible? A question that would probably plague him for some time to come, and no answer seemed available. But one thing was for certain, Naruto was in trouble, and his internal crisis could wait. More important things needed to be taken care of it seemed, and everything else could wait until later. He could worry about the problems this new problem could and would cause at a later point in time. He stood up, donning his hat, before paging his secretary.

"Cancel all of today's meetings. I'm going out." He stated firmly, not waiting around for a response.

"Yes, Hokage-Sama."

* * *

**CHAPTER**

**2**

**End**


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Notes

Many apologies for my upload schedule, but I hope that my writing makes up for that. I would love to personally hear everyone's thoughts on my work, and whether it should continue forward.

* * *

LEGEND BELOW

"In the beginning..." = Normal speech.

_''I kinda wanted to know.''_ = Normal thoughts.

**"You dare to defy me!?"** = Unknown speech.

**_''That's what I thought.''_** = Unknown thoughts.

* * *

The sun hung high in the skies of Konohagakure, depicting a warm and welcoming afternoon day for the village residents. However, it was misleading in the sense that today had already been, and was likely to continue being stressful. The locals filled the streets, bustling around too and fro happily, completely oblivious to the potential return of their most feared enemy.

Hiruzen sighed. He had really wanted to keep it that way, but he knew that there was no chance that anyone would ignore the Kyuubi's second coming. He was about to have his hands full, more then he already did, and he didn't know who was to blame for this. It really was quite distressing.

At this very moment he was on his way over to young _Naruto's _house, hoping and praying to anyone willing to hear his plea, that the boy he knew wasn't gone. He knew that he was being hopeful, but he couldn't help it. If Naruto truly was gone, then whoever was responsible was going to suffer a painful end by his hands, mark his words. But if that innocent boy was still in there, still in control, then no one, not even the damned council was going to stop him from doing what he should have been doing since day one. That boy needed him right now, needed others too. He could at the very least offer that, he owed the boy's father that much.

Hiruzen let out another sigh as he spotted Naruto's house up ahead. It was time. He signaled his ANBU that were trailing him to wait in standby for any further orders, while he made his way up to his front door. The three he talked to earlier had been sent ahead of him, and he found Hana standing near the door.

"Hana." Hiruzen greeted with a nod.

"Hokage-Sama." The feral looking woman greeted back.

"How is he?" He asked quietly, patiently waiting for an answer. Hana seemed to let out a breath before responding.

"Fine, all things considered, but..." There she seemed to pause. "He's become despondent... The shock of waking up only to realize that your old body is gone is over, and now..." She trailed off, giving the Hokage a helpless look. "I don't know, Hokage-Sama..." Hiruzen's shoulders seemed to sag as he sighed again.

"I see..." He muttered, quietly thinking for a moment. "What's he doing right now?" He found himself asking.

"Staring listlessly at a wall while being comforted by the little Hyuuga Princess..." The woman responded with a frown, crossing her arms under her chest in habit. Hiruzen frowned at the answer, but it couldn't be helped. "Hokage-Sama, if I may?" Hana asked. Getting a nod in response, she continued. "I've only observed him for a short time now, but... From what I've seen, Princess in there is the only one that brings him any comfort... I don't think it'd be a good idea to separate them for long..." She informed seriously.

"Ah, thank you for informing me." Hiruzen said, filing that bit of information away for later. "Now, I've come to see him." He stated. Hana nodded before leading him to the room. He stopped short of opening the door. Taking another breath, he knocked. This was a trying situation, and he needed to approach it as such. Simply barging in would do nothing but cause tensions to rise. He could feel Hinata almost jump in surprise from the other side of the door.

"H-Hello? Who's there?" Hinata called out from within the room. From where her voice came from, it was clear she was underneath or behind something large.

"Hinata Hyuuga?" Hiruzen asked through the door. The girl hummed in surprise, but quickly responded. "This is Sarutobi Hiruzen... May I come in?"

"Oh, yes! The door's o-open.." The girl called out. A moment passed before the door opened, and the Hokage walked in. The old man's suspicions were confirmed when he found the girl resting under the fox's large arm as she deftly ran her fingers soothingly up and down his ears. The fox...

Hiruzen didn't think it would be that easy to come to terms with that fact, but... After having to witness it firsthand, his heart quickly reached the realization that this fox could not in any way actually be the Kyuubi itself. There was no deception in the fox's... in Naruto's heart. He could sense no underlying hatred or burning venom trying to be concealed, something he was sure the real Kyuubi would have a hell of a time trying to hide. No, all he saw was Naruto. But what he saw still worried him.

"Naruto-Kun.. Hokage-Sama is h-here to see you." Hinata urged softly, trying to get the fox's attention. At first it seemed like he wasn't going to respond, but then he finally tore his gaze away from the wall and turned to Hiruzen. The first words out of his mouth cemented the truth in Hiruzen's heart.

**"...Hey... old man..."** Naruto's deep voice said softly, his eyes staring tiredly into the Hokage's. Hiruzen visibly loosened up, the muscles previously tense now relaxed. When he looked into those red eyes, he was reminded of the night that Konohagakure was almost lost. But he knew that those eyes now belonged to someone that could never even be convinced to do such an act similar to that night. That, and the only one that ever dared to call him an old man was Naruto. But he knew that the boy meant it as a term of endearment and not degrading.

"Naruto... My god boy, how did this happen?" Hiruzen breathed out, stepping closer to him. A glazed look seemed to take over the fox's eyes, and Hiruzen realized that he just stumbled across something serious. "Naruto." He started seriously. "Who did this to you?"

**"...I thought he was my friend..."** His voice felt hollow, like his will to live had been sucked away. It was broken, not breaking. **"...He said that he would be my friend... that all I had to do was help him..."** He spoke aloud, almost robotically recalling the one who had taken everything from him.

**"I did all that he asked of me..." **He said with a broken-hearted whine. **"So why...? Why did he leave me...? Why won't he come back..?"** Hiruzen knew that he wasn't asking him or anyone in the room in particular, but simply asking the world a question that only the one that did the damage could answer. Hiruzen thought that Naruto would be angry at the man that did this to him, but he was worried to find out that even after everything that had been done, Naruto still held this unknown man high on his personal list. He could only imagine what that man may have promised him for Naruto to hold such a high thought of him.

"Naruto, you must focus." Hiruzen urged, trying to hold the fox's attention. "Who did this? Who left you here like this?" This time, it was Naruto's turn to look confused, as he stared back at the old man with a lost look in his eyes.

**"What..? But... He said he worked for you..."** Naruto responded slowly, eyes locked with the old man's. Hiruzen's eyes widened in horror. **"Snake said he worked for you..."** He repeatedly quietly, a certain realization dawning on him after judging the Hokage's reaction to his words.

"Naruto..." Hiruzen said slowly, his voice gravely serious. "Did this, Snake, wear a mask?" The others might have thought the question unimportant, but to him it meant everything. Naruto nodded, re-cementing Hiruzen's fears. "Did this mask resemble a serpent?" Another nod.

_''Damnit...''_ Hiruzen cursed silently. _''Someone wearing an ANBU mask, of course!''_ It was no wonder Naruto trusted this man so easily! Naruto knew that the ANBU served him, and so he trusted them. But to make it worse, this _ANBU_ actually had the knowledge to back up his disguise as well, truly a bad situation.

"Did he ever take his mask off?" Hana suddenly spoke up, offering a question. Naruto's furry brows squinted in thought, trying to recall.

**"Uh I.. Once..."** Naruto muttered. **"But I, he.."** He took a growling breath to try and calm himself, reveling in the comfort brought on by Hinata's roaming hands. **"He had white skin, and dark hair... And his eyes were like a snake? I don't, I can't..."** The fox struggled to recall anymore, but the Hokage has heard enough.

"Shh.. Its o-okay Naruto-Kun..." Hinata could sense that speaking about the man hurt him, and this interrogation wasn't helping him. But for all that, Hiruzen now knew without a shadow of a doubt, who the perpetrator was, and he was not happy. Naruto visibly calmed under her touch, something only Sarutobi had noticed.

"Orochimaru..." Hiruzen muttered to himself, too quietly for anyone else to hear. Well besides Naruto, as his ears twitched at the sound. The Hokage stood up suddenly, gaining everyone's attention. "Naruto, my boy, I'm sorry. It seems I've failed you again..." Hiruzen said with a sigh, raising a hand to silence the fox that was about to object. "But I've had enough of sitting on the sidelines... I know I can't fix this, but, I'm going to try and make it better. I've got a meeting to summon, I won't be long..." With that said, he made his leave. The group watched him leave, a strange sense of relief building inside them...

* * *

It was the early afternoon now, and Hiruzen had just finished sending out a notice to all clan leaders. He was calling for an abrupt and unexpected meeting between them all. He hated to have to bring them all in on such short notice, but it couldn't be helped.

With a tired old sigh, the head of the village let out a puff of smoke from his pipe. It was days like this that made him pick up smoking again, a bad habit that he couldn't seem to break away from. He knew that it wouldn't be long before every clan head was gathered together under his roof, so he was currently busying himself with trying to find a way to appropriately broach a sensitive topic with them. That being said, he had a feeling that nothing he said would make this any easier, for all parties involved.

"Welcome in... Naruto has become every civilian's nightmare, and I have no idea what to do... Any suggestions?" He mused out-loud sarcastically. The man felt like slamming his head into his table. He just couldn't believe it! Well he could, but that was besides the point. The day he let his deranged student go rather then stopping him when he had the chance, he knew that one day it would come back and bite him in the ass.

He was just selfish enough to hope that he'd be dead by then. Let the younger generation deal with it! Yeah, because that worked out so unbelievably well the last time he did that. Brand new young Hokage dies not even a year into his position, leaving his child alone without another parent to care for him. That worked well, didn't it...

_''I'm going to be in this seat until it kills me...''_ He knew it to be true. No one currently residing in the village was deemed an acceptable replacement for the god of shinobi. His top ANBU was extremely powerful and skilled, but didn't possess the right mindset for the job. His own son was off on a practically permanent mission guarding the Fire Daimyo, and tension had been placed between them for years. Then his other student, who he really hoped would take up the seat, decided that the village was just too much for her and left it. Honestly, he didn't feel like he could trust anyone here with the position yet.

But that being said, he knew that if push came to shove, Kakashi, his top ANBU would take the spot if needed. Hiruzen just didn't want it to come to that if he could help it, as the young man in question already had been dealt a bad hand since early on in his life.

The old man was interrupted by the return of his ANBU, the spec-ops ninja appearing with a small swirl of air. The ninja bowed, before offering his report.

"Hokage-Sama." The man said with an air of professionalism. "Everyone you asked for has been alerted. They should be arriving shortly." He informed. With his piece said, the ninja disappeared back into the shadow of the room. The old man let out a sigh, setting his pipe down. People knew that he only used it when stressed, so he felt it better that he not. Barely a minute passed before a knock sounded at his door, signaling the first arrival.

"Come in." He ordered. The double doors opened with a creek revealing the leader of the esteemed Hyuuga clan, Hiashi Hyuuga. The man was well groomed and adorned in a very bland yet powerful kimono.

"Hokage-Sama." Hiashi greeted with a respectful bow, the tone of his voice neutral.

"Hiashi." Hiruzen returned. "The rest should be here any second." Following his words, the sounds of other people arriving could be heard. "Ah, there they are now." Through the open doors a small group of people walked in, quickly taking note of the tension.

The group consisted of the inquisitive Inoichi Yaminaka, leader of the mind reading Yaminaka's. Shibi Aburame, the quiet head of the clan of chakra insects using ninja. Choza Akimichi, a large man with an equally large heart and the current leader of the big boned Akimichi clan. Beside him was his best friend and longtime teammate, Shikaku Nara, probably the smartest man in battle tactics inside the entire village.

Standing off to the side of the rest was a pretty white skinned black haired woman, her pitch black eyes a trademark of her clan. She was doing her best to appear professional, but the stress could be seen in her eyes and the placement of her hands, as they fidgeted with the hem of her kimono, and constantly readjusted her glasses. She was the representative of the famed Uchiha clan, and was doing her best to not bring any shame to her family name.

The Uchiha were prideful people at the height of their power, but.. After ninety nine percent of their clan were wiped out in a freak accident two years ago, only her and the heiress to the main family remained alive. With the heiress not being of age, she was forced to take up the roll as temporary clan head and advisor to the young heiress until she could handle it all on her own. That being said, she was a mere newly minted Chunin at sixteen years old when the massacre took place, and had no skills in politics whatsoever. Whatever her plans for the future were, were completely disregarded in favor of quickly learning to take up her new role as head. She struggled heavily, but she never gave up her duty to defend and properly take care of the young heiress, even when it wasn't beneficial for her.

Strutting her way into the room only a few moments behind the rest of them was the beautiful yet wild looking woman, Tsume Inuzuka, single leader over the entire doglike Inuzuka clan. The woman was referred to as the clan's mother figure, and had the protective attitude to follow it. Her long brown hair was spiked and untamed, and a dark purple lipstick adorned her lips. With her arms crossed under her breasts, a frown formed on her face.

"This better be important..." The first words out of the brown haired woman's mouth were typical of her attitude, and Hiruzen let the remark go unpunished. Seeing as everyone he asked for had arrived, Hiruzen let out a sigh.

"Alright, seeing as everyone's here, I can begin." Hiruzen started, his gaze taking in the room. "To be brutally frank, we've run into a big problem." He spoke seriously, yet his tired gaze explained a bit more to those paying attention. "And I do not have the ability to care for this situation without making more of an issue..."

"Hokage-Sama..?" Hiashi questioned, his tone practiced but still concerned. For the Hokage to be serious as he was, something definitely had to be up.

"This problem revolves around Uzumaki Naruto, Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi... I'm sure everyone here knows about him..." With that short sentence alone, everyone in the room was forced to realize the importance of the situation at hand. The fact that Hiruzen would so easily break his own spoken law about not talking about said Jinchuriki was worrying, to say the least.

"The Uzumaki boy? Yeah I think I speak for us all in saying we know about him." Tsume said with a thoughtful frown.

"S-Something happened to him didn't it...?" Siouxsie, current clan head to the Uchiha said nervously, readjusting her glasses again. Leave it to the Uchiha to point out the obvious, even though it was true. Hiruzen sighed, but nodded to her statement.

"Yes. Sadly you are correct." Hiruzen stated. "And, I am partially to blame for this..." He sighed, leveling them a tense look. "It seems that my past mistakes have finally caught up to me, and are once again causing a problem."

"Past mistakes..? Hokage-Sama, you don't mean...?" Inoichi prodded, his mind already connecting the dots. The only past mistake Hiruzen ever really dwelled on the most was his student turned criminal.

"Orochimaru." He stated. The room seemed to tense at the name of the traitor. "Without me ever being made aware of it, Orochimaru managed to infiltrate the village and get into direct contact with Naruto, alone and unsupervised... This happened months ago, and I've only now come to learn of it... and the problem that has arisen because of it..."

"Months... You mean to tell us, that _that_ traitor has been wandering around the village unsupervised for months now!?" Choza shouted in shock. It was a terrifying thought, and dwelling on it brought no comfort.

"I'm afraid so. After gaining access to the village, he sought out Naruto. I don't know exactly what happened after that, but he somehow convinced Naruto to befriend him. And-" Here Hiruzen took a shuddering breath. "-He somehow turned Naruto into a nigh perfect representation of the beast he contains within..." Dead silence pursued in wake of his statement. Inoichi looked as if his mind had just short circuited, his face twitching in shock. The look of utter horror that crossed Shikaku was probably the most emotion that anyone had managed to pull out of the man within the last decade. Hiashi was trying to keep a level head, but the tension around his shoulders told a different story. Chōza's face had gone white.

"What!?" However, it was Tsume that broke the dreadful silence, her shout rocking the walls. The woman grabbed her hair. "He did what!?" She repeated loudly. Her shout shocked Siouxsie, the woman dropping her glasses.

"Right now, at this very moment, Naruto is at his apartment, being watched by the only ones that bring him comfort. The list of people is short, those on it being your daughter, Hiashi; And both your sons, Shikaku, Tsume." Hiruzen stated. Hiashi practically fell out of his seat.

"Hokage-Sama? You left my daughter alone with a nine tailed fox...?" The Hyuuga leader's question echoed throughout the room. Hiruzen winced. Perhaps he shouldn't have put it in such a way.

"Yes. I did." But that wasn't going to stop him now. "Naruto is a mental wreak right now, and for some reason little miss Hyuuga's touch calms him down. I'm afraid that more then just the body came with this horrible transformation, as I believe some of the Kyuubi's legendary anger may have come along with it as well as other... things..." With that little tidbit of information, Hiashi was forced to sit back and think.

"What are we going to do..?" Inoichi's question brought the main issue at hand back to the forefront of Sarutobi's mind.

"Back to the main point. With this new situation unfolding, we have to deal with it quickly and quietly. I want to get to this before anyone from the civilian council gets word of it. As it stands now, Naruto is not a registered ninja yet, and comes under the civilian counsel's control..." The old man stated, leveling he problem on the field. However, quickly thinking of a response, Siouxsie spoke up.

"H-Hokage-Sama, if I may?" She asked, readjusting her glasses again. At his nod of confirmation she continued. "If you were to make young Naruto-Kun a ninja, he would fall under your control..." Siouxsie spoke quietly, as all eyes turned on her.

"Hmm, yes. Interesting. I'll have to do it in quiet. I will need multiple clan leaders present to do this however, otherwise proving this in the council would prove troublesome." Hiruzen said, a grin starting to form. "Brilliant. I knew calling you all here would aid in solving this dilemma." Siouxsie blushed under the Hokage's praise, but hid it by readjusting her glasses again.

"Hokage-Sama?" Shikaku interjected. "Even if this goes to plan, I would still suggest we place Naruto somewhere where he would be supervised." He reasoned, but was quick to continue at the face Hiruzen pulled. "I suggest this for his safety and our own assurance, nothing else. You mentioned his, _anger issues_, and I feel this is a good way to study and help him following his rather abrupt and unwelcomed change." He followed up. "And... If this change were to be permanent...? We would require the information to assist him through his trials."

Silence persisted following the Nara clan head's rather pointed observations. Hiruzen hated to say it, but everything Shikaku said was correct. He didn't know nearly the extent of Naruto's problems, nor anyway to deal with them currently. He had no idea how he was going to have to move forward following this. And, this was exactly why he had called this meeting in the first place.

"Hokage-Sama, may I suggest you transfer Naruto into my care?" Hiashi spoke up, bringing all eyes on him. "If everything that we've learned here today is true, then having him placed into the care of the Hyuuga clan would offer him protection from any unwanted visitors... as well as having him within close proximity to my daughter..." It was hard to tell, but they detected that Hiashi wasn't too happy about it. Even then, he was a man that had lived though tough times before, and knew when to not let his own personal feelings get in the way of things.

"If no one here has anything else to say about this, then I have no reason not to go along with your idea." Hiruzen stated. When no one spoke up, he nodded to himself. Following this, Hiruzen reached under his desk, pulling out a document. It was a bundle of papers pertaining to Naruto. From here he would be adding a few new documents to go alongside the others. Yes. He planned on getting the legal problems out of the way completely first and foremost. He was not going to allow himself to be blindsided by anything the council could throw at him when they learned of this.

"Perfect. Now I just need all of your signatures." At his word they all signed the document. Once the ink dried, he sorted the papers back into the folder and returned it to his desk. "As of right this moment, Uzumaki Naruto is officially a Genin of Konoha, village hidden in the leaves." He stated, though they could detect a hint of something in his words. With his piece done, he fell back into his seat, a sigh escaping him. With all said and done, the shear fact of what happened really started to settle in.

"I believe we should leave this at that for now. I want to reconvene in a week to further discuss this." Hiruzen stated, leveling a look at everyone. They all mulled him words over silently, before offering him their support. With that they made their leave, with only Hiashi staying behind to further cover Naruto's new living arrangements...

* * *

Two hours later Hiruzen returned to the apartment, and with him a small group of his personal ANBU. Now usually that wouldn't be seen as a good sign, but the reassuring look on his face served to calm any building worries in their hearts. Within a few minutes, they had gathered up all of Naruto's remaining possessions, forgoing all of his clothing for very obvious reasons.

Hiruzen didn't want Naruto to have to stay in the ruined building for any longer then he needed to, and as such had planned to move him immediately. This building held bad memories that he was sure wasn't going to do him any good by sticking around. By now Hiashi has most likely finished the temporary living arrangements at the Hyuuga compound. Tsume had offered him a bed made for their own ninja dogs, and suggested that it might work for Naruto as well.

All of that combined, and with the fact that Naruto was also going to be rooming with Hinata, not much space was left in the room. Hiashi noted with a sense of dread that of Naruto was going to become a permanent house guest, the some _redecorating_, as he put it, was going to be in order. The idea of his daughter and a nine tailed fox in a small enclosed space just didn't sit well with him. But he would suck it up and deal with it for the time being.

Now all that was left was for them to transfer Naruto to the Hyuuga compound without alerting the entire village. One of his personal ANBU had the brilliant idea of casting a Gen-Jutsu over the fox that would make it seem as if he were just some random person. That was great and all, but it was only an illusion, and most certainly not physical. It would look odd if they all simply walked alongside him, but it would have to suffice. The other ANBU were there to continuously cast Gen-Jutsu on the surrounding people to make them wander away from him. A really thrown together plan, but Hiruzen had faith in his people.

Immediately, they put the plan into action. I was a little hard to convince Naruto that no one would suspect that he was in fact a nine tailed fox due to a Jutsu, but it was Hinata that convinced him that he could trust them to protect him. It was as if a light had been switched and suddenly he was obeying everything the girl said, as if he had no opinion himself. Hiruzen found it concerning just how much blind faith Naruto seemed to put in her, but something about it seemed correct to him, more then it would if it were anyone else.

Without much struggle, the group had managed to sneak Naruto all the way to the Hyuuga compound unnoticed. It was as if a weight had been removed from their shoulders as they crossed the gate into the walled compound. Here he would be free from those hateful glares he had become so accustomed too. At least that's what he was told...

* * *

"A-Ah, come this way Naruto-Kun." Hinata urged with a soft smile as she led the massive Fox with her movement. They had just passed through the gates, and the adults had stayed behind to briefly cover a few things with the Hyuuga guards that stood by. Hiruzen lay it out quickly and rather pointedly. Besides him and select others, no one was allowed inside the walls for safety reasons, beside Shikamaru, Kiba, and Hana. They had been very briefly informed by Hiashi himself only an hour ago, so they went along with what the Hokage said fully.

While they did that, Naruto wandered off after Hinata, his eyes never leaving the back of her form as she walked. She wanted him to follow her, so he followed her. It felt right to listen to her words, to follow her directions. For the first time in his life, he was fully convinced of at least one thing. That he would follow this little girl to the ends of the earth and back, no questions asked.

It was strange, that even he himself didn't question it at all. But... Something about her, who she was, the way she talked to him... It just all made sense to him. For as short and painful as his life had been up to this point, her delicate little hands could take that all away instantly. He had no idea what he had done to earn her love and care, but he would forever protect her to repay her affections. She had always been there for him, even in his childhood days.

And her scent! It was strange, but as a fox, a sense of smell meant so much more then it did when he.. when he was human. She smelled of soft lavender. Years ago when he used to get lost in the woods, crying and hiding, the smell of lavender would pervade his senses and like a wave of soothing energy, he'd calm down. Now, that same smell and calming energy hit him like a bolt of lightning, and the affect was so much stronger. He knew that it was her, she was the lavender that pervaded his nose and took total control over him.

And now, even when he felt scared of his new body, scared of this new challenge, and scared of how he was going to be treated by the same village that he lived in, he couldn't become swept away by it. Every time those thoughts began to assault him, her smiling face would come to mind, and the feeling of being near her would stop those thoughts. And earlier, when the bitter anger filled his heart at the thought of Snake betraying him, it was her calming presence and soft roaming hands that took that anger and that hatred and sadness, and threw it away. He would be strong, for her.

Naruto had no idea, but Hinata had accidentally cast a spell on him with her own body alone. Who she was as a person had purchased his allegiance, and one day she would come to understand the full weight of what her body and mind could do to him. But for now...

"Err... Naruto-Kun?" Hinata's soft voice broke him from his trance he had been placed in. He blinked rapidly, looking to her pale lavender eyes.

**"Yes Hinata?"** He responded, standing there waiting for her to continue. The girl was momentarily shaken by the devotion contained within his sharp red eyes, and almost completely forgot what she was about to say.

"O-Oh! Um... This is my room. Father said that y-you'll be staying here with me." She said, and his eyes were drawn to what stood behind her. He knew that Hinata was royalty, but... Behind the girl was two fancy sliding doors that led to a large open room that looked like it was fit for a prince... Yet now that he thought about it, she technically was a princess in a way. The hyuuga were extremely rich people, so it was no shock that they treated the daughter of the clan head so highly. But even then.

**"Wow... This is your room?"** He breathed out, stunned. Hinata nodded beside him, bringing a delicate hand to her chin.

"Father insists that it is too s-small..." She noted off handedly. Naruto almost tripped over his own pawed claws at her statement. Ignoring his bewilderment, she moved into the room and he followed her in moments later. Off in the corner was a large pillow like bed, designed to be on the ground. Naruto gained the feeling that it was for him. That, or his Hinata just enjoyed relaxing on massively oversized beds... The way his mind had addressed Hinata was completely unnoticed by him, as he followed her around the room.

"Oh..?" Hinata hummed as she noticed the small note resting on the large pillow. It was signed Tsume Inuzuka. Nothing more was on it. "I-I think someone got this for you." She said, setting the note over by her desk. Naruto moved to the pillow, catching a quick whiff of it. It had hints of dog on it, but it seemed to have ever been used before...

His eye lids grew heavy and he suddenly felt tired. A large yawn escaped from him as he crawled up onto the massive pillow, and curled up like a cat, his massive tails curled around him. Over beside her desk, Hinata had lit up a candle. It was lavender scented. As he drifted off, his mind couldn't help but be drawn to the thoughts of the most recent events. Only a few days ago he had been a human, and as much as they tried to convince him otherwise, he felt like he had been turned into a monster. How could anyone accept him as he was now? They already hated him, and now look at him...

**"I don't want to be a monster..."** His whisper was so soft Hinata almost missed it. She turned to him, but he had already fallen asleep, apparently finding solace in sleep. Her face softened as she gazed at his.

"You're not a monster..." She whispered, before quietly returning to her desk...

* * *

**CHAPTER**

**3**

**END**


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Notes

Due to the love that everyone has shone for this this story so far, I'm happily going to continue it. I'm very glad that it's as enjoyable as I hoped it would be.

Do feel free to leave a review on the chapter. Any thoughts or even extra ideas may make a change on the story going forward.

* * *

LEGEND BELOW

"In the beginning..." = Normal speech.

_''I kinda wanted to know.''_ = Normal thoughts.

**"You dare to defy me!?"** = Unknown speech.

**_''That's what I thought.''_** = Unknown thoughts.

* * *

The next couple of days around the Hyuuga compound were tense, to say the least. Surprisingly, there was no open hostility like Naruto had been expecting, but that didn't mean that he was treated like royalty. No.

The Hyuuga were people that prided themselves on the way they acted, and how they were seen by others. It was hard to tell when they were mad or when they were happy, when they had all been taught to keep their faces neutral. Whenever a servant would come to give something to Hinata, he would catch the look they sent him. It wasn't hostile, but it was closer to concern and fear.

He was used to hatred. He knew the anger and how to better deal with angry people. But fear? He hated that! The looks of fear and worry that most of the servants wore around him angered him. It wasn't his fault that he was turned into a monster! As a side affect of their fear, he had taken to staying locked away in Hinata's room just to avoid the looks that the servant girls sent him.

They way he was treated did not escape Hinata's view, and she had taken it upon herself to help them come to see him differently. That being said, it wasn't easy convincing others that he wasn't a monster that was hellbent on murdering them all in their sleep, seeing as he nearly perfectly resembled the beast that years ago had done just that. But that wouldn't stop her from trying.

After a week of her constant but gentle prodding, she had managed to get him to leave the room and follow her to her garden just past the living quarters. He had to admit that after only an hour outside with her, the garden had quickly become another one of his favorite places to find solace. The quiet little creek that passed though carried a variety of different fish, and sometimes he'd catch himself just laying there next to the water, watching as the fish swam by.

Sometimes some of the servants would pass by and see him, and almost trip over themselves in shock. But when he payed them no mind, the fear slowly began to subside. When it became apparent that he wasn't planning anything with ill-intent, the constant fear nipping at their minds slowly began to fade away.

The real breaking point happened one day, when a servant woman was walking through the garden with her young daughter. The Hyuuga woman had been teaching her daughter about the role she would end up growing into, being that she was born under the branch family. The girl had innate skills with caring for plants, and would most likely become the one the main family would use to care for the massive gardens. But when the little girl saw Naruto sleeping next to the creek, she had strayed from her mother's side and ran up to him. By the time she noticed, it was already too late to stop her.

"Hello." She spoke out, only a foot away from his face. He opened one eye at the sound, blinking curiously at her. She leaned close, her white eyes glittering in innocence curiosity. He eyed her form lazily, noting the fact that she was probably only four years old.

**"Hmm... Hi.."** He huffed in response. Seemingly not shocked by his ability to talk, she moved a little closer.

"How did you get inside Hinata-Sama's garden?" She questioned with a small tilt of her head. He almost laughed at her question, but instead hummed in response. Both eyes were open now, but he hadn't moved from his comfortable position by the water.

**"Hmm.. She led me here."** He responded vaguely, seeing if she'd put two and two together. He lay there quietly, watching her face for the moment she realized. Glancing behind her he spotted who could only be the little girl's mother, nervously shaking and too afraid to move closer to her girl, lest she anger him. He snorted at her reaction to him, and turned his focus back to the girl. Sudden her eyes widened, and he could see the realization light up.

"Oh! I hadn't realized Hinata-Sama had a pet fox." She admitted with a genuine smile, her eyes closed. He had to hold himself from bursting out laughing, her face was just too precious. Yet he didn't refute her claim. "Can I pet you?" She asked, leaning in closer. Glancing back to the mother that hadn't moved, a sly fanged grin grew on his maw.

**"Sure."** He responded as he moved his head closer to her. The little girl gently ran her hands over his head, carful to avoid his eyes. Then suddenly he opened his mouth wide, and when the woman thought that she was about to watch her own daughter get eaten, he licked her.

"H-Hey! That tickles!" She laughed, continuing to pet him. His grin grew as he saw the woman nearly pass out behind the girl. For some reason he found immense joy in toying with others, and didn't feel like stopping. He kept licking her, her giggling fueling his assault. "N-No! Stop.." She giggled, using her little hands to try and stop his tongue.

When it became apparent that he never held any hostility against them, they were forced to change their opinions of him. The catalyst was the little girl not afraid to approach him, and her mother that watched from a distance. If Naruto had truly been evil, then no one could have stopped him from fulfilling her nightmares.

But he wasn't, and that day, when the Hyuuga servant woman witnessed the massive nine tailed fox gently playing with her daughter, her little girl's glee filled giggles filling the air, her eyes were opened. She knew then, that Naruto wasn't in fact, the monster the village would have them all believe. But instead a lonely creature that longed for company in any form, and wanted more then anything to be seen as something else. Anything but a monster.

Even with claws that could so very easily rip someone in half, and teeth that were made to tear and maim, muscles that held the power to crush rocks and nine tails that could move so fast they could break your neck if they hit you, he never hurt her. Not once did he hurt her, even slightly. By the end of it he had been on his back rolling around with her sitting on his stomach giggling happily, and she was totally unscathed. And that was the thing that put a genuine smile on his maw, not that fanged grin he'd use when he was toying with you.

After that day, the woman didn't fear him anymore. Every once in a while she would be walking through the garden with her daughter, and he'd be there. The girl would ask to be allowed to play with him, and she's let her go, knowing that she'd be safe in his company. She'd sometimes leave her with him all day so she could attend to her own duties. When others took notice, they too began to see him differently. It didn't change over the course of a day, but he could say without a doubt that things had begun to drastically improve inside the compound. When seen moving throughout the day, he wasn't greeted with fear, but with similar responses given to actual people. That, is what made him happy.

With this newfound trust placed in him by the people living in the compound, he had been approached for his first assignment personally by Hiashi himself. Being that he was technically a ninja of the leaf village, he was allowed to take missions for it, whatever it may be. He was made aware of this fact when Hiruzen himself came by only a few days into his new residence to give him his ninja headband, the thing which proved as his proof to anyone wanting to know that he was in fact a ninja. Hinata had it tied around his neck, almost like a collar, not that anyone pointed that out.

But now, around a month into his newfound living conditions, he had been given a mission. Hiashi, alongside the Hyuuga elders and some of the main branch family, that included his personal guards, had an outside issue to deal with. However, this required them to leave the village to hopefully resolve this problem, being that it was connected to another village entirely. It would most likely take a week entirely, if they counted travel time. With that thought in mind, Hiashi had entrusted the safety of his two daughters to him.

Now some had thought him crazy, but he knew just what he was doing. He had been keenly watching Naruto throughout the past month, and felt his choice was justified. That wasn't enough for some, but it wasn't up to them who to trust his daughters care to. When he told Naruto about this, the fox couldn't help but feel elated. The fact that someone as high as the leader to the Hyuuga himself held such trust in him, it touched his heart. He'd promised that nothing would even touch them as long as he lived to do anything about it.

With that said, everything went off without a hitch. The day came and went for them to leave, and Naruto sat there at the gated entrance, watching them go. Soon it had been just them. Now with his first mission laid out before him, he didn't plan on failing it. As such, he had decided to spend all of his time with both the girls. This would also be the first time that he really got to spend any significant amount of time with Hinata's little sister, Hanabi.

The little Hyuuga was a spitfire for sure. She had the energy and sharp intellect that would serve her fully later in her life. But right now, he could safely say that she was cute in the way that she tried to be so serious.

Time seemed to fly by quickly once they all left. Hinata often spent her days training to pass the quickly approaching ninja academy exam. She didn't plan on failing it, and she wanted to prove that. The Hyuuga weren't allowed to fail something like that. Those days Naruto would spend sitting on the side, his sharp red eyes watching her form training serving as more then enough to keep himself fully entertained. Oftentimes Hanabi would come to watch her bigger sister train, hoping to learn something sooner then intended.

Soon enough, three days had passed quietly, flowing in their usual ways. However, as this forth day began to wind down, something happened...

* * *

"A-Ah, Naruto-Kun... I-I think that's enough for today..." Hinata breathed, leaning over panting heavily. She had been training with Naruto in the training hall for the past hour. She had been training by herself for a while then, but being alone only ever got you so far. Naruto was always with her, and one day she had the idea to have him train with her. He had at first been confused by the idea, but went along with it anyway.

She had asked him to attack her, and almost on instinct he went to deny her request. But then she asked him again, and the slight lean of her body and the look in her eyes made him break. She had told him that she needed help in learning to dodge, and training alone made that impossible to accomplish. She had asked him to merely sit there, and attack her with his tails. At first it was just one, the he added a second, then a third. Within an hour he was systematically thrusting all of his tails at her like spears, forcing her to learn to dodge or suffer a hit. It proved hard, but very affective training. If she could master dodging all nine of his tails at once, it would prove to further her ability as a ninja.

But after an hour of doing this, she was dead tired and dripping with sweat. Her usual dress stuck to her body uncomfortably, and she was having trouble breathing. Meanwhile Naruto was sitting in the middle of the room happily, his tails waving about in an almost unnatural pattern. But when Hinata spoke up, he knew that training was done for the day.

**"Okay."** He hummed happily, which sounded off all things considered. Absentmindedly he grabbed a towel with his tail and handed it to her. With a quiet thank you she dried off.

"I'm going to need a bath..." Hinata stated, looking down at herself. "C-Can you go get Hanabi for me, please? She needs a b-bath too." She asked, even though he would have if she ordered him to. He nodded before trotting away, his foot falls making small echoes as they padded across the wood floors. It only took him a minute to reach Hanabi's room, but when he did, he immediately noticed that something was off. He couldn't put his claws on it, but...

**"Hanabi..?"** He called out quietly through the thin door, mindful of the fact that it was late and many others were likely sleeping. When she didn't respond he frowned. It was then that a scent hit his nose. The scent of someone he most certainly didn't recognize. In an instant, the door was flung open, his eyes searching for her. There was a flash of steel in the darkness of night, and he was caught off guard as a blade of steel wedged itself straight down through his snout and out the underside of his jaw.

**"Gah-!"** The fox's shout of pain was cut short when his ability to open his mouth was removed. Blood flew across the room, painting the white walls red. Standing in front of him was a ninja dressed in black, his face shrouded in shadow. Bonded by rope and draped over his shoulder was Hanabi, unconscious. When the ninja realized that he failed to kill him he went to rip his weapon back, but it was stuck. Blinded by the pain, Naruto jerked back, stumbling into the light of the moon and hitting one of the main supports.

With his mouth filled with his own dark red blood, locked closed painfully by a blade, he growled in rage. One tail whipped out like a spear, stabbing at the unknown attacker. Naruto could feel the man's eyes widen in shock as he barely managed to avoid getting skewered. He went to shout for help, but the weapon lodged in his mouth prevented that. Unable to alert everyone that there was an intruder, he began to slam his tails into the hardwood floor, hoping that it was loud enough to wake everyone up.

Suddenly the ninja whipped out a handful of kunai, before flinging them at him. This time around, Naruto wasn't about to be caught off guard. He raised a tail to block the weapons, the sharpened throwing knives lodging themselves deep into his tail. Blood flew into the air, but Naruto never took his eyes off the enemy. This stranger had broken into his house to steal his girls, and for that, he would die. There was some choice words he would love to shout right then, but any movement in his mouth burned painfully.

With his cover blown, the ninja took to the rooftops, Hanabi in tow. Naruto growled furiously, blood spilling out of his mouth and pooling on the ground below. His own pains were pushed to the side in favor of rescuing Hanabi. With powers he wasn't previously aware that he possessed, his powerful legs propelled him to the roof of the compound, claws digging small trenches in the shingles.

**"Yoooou-! Giiive hhhheer baaaack-!"** Naruto growled lowly, struggling to move his mouth, the sound nearly stopping the ninja dead. He made the single mistake of looking back at him. In the darkness of night, covered in his own blood, was the terrifying image of a nine tailed fox reaching out to rip his head off. He slipped, his foot just missing the next roof. Instantly Naruto was upon him, multiple tails flying forward and wrapping him in a chokehold.

By this point the entire compound had been awoken by the sounds of fighting, and multiple Hyuuga had ran outside, dressed in bed clothes. "What is going on!?" Someone shouted.

The ninja tried and failed to escape from Naruto, as his tails wrapped around each of his limbs. He was forced to watch as he failed and the Hyuuga leader's daughter was taken back from him. Standing atop the roof of the main branch family's house was Naruto, who cradled the now conscious Hanabi in his three tails, while the other six held a firm grasp of the unknown ninja.

The Hyuuga guards were quick to react, as they joined Naruto on the roof with spears. With the enemy safely detained, one guard moved in to take off the ninja's mask. When it was revealed who it was, all the Hyuuga's hearts hardened. It happened to be a ninja from Kumo, the village hidden in the clouds.

"So, Kumo has stooped low enough to try to attempt this a second time!" One guard accused, brandishing his spear. "We should kill him where he stands!" He said. But before he could, Naruto pulled him in close, face to sword lodged snout. The fear in the man's eyes was obvious. It was also then that they all noticed how badly Naruto had been hurt in defending Hanabi.

**"Yoooou dddare tto ttoucch hhheer!"** He growled so lowly that the man nearly lost control of his bowels, Naruto's voice echoing throughout the entire compound. Even with his maw shut closed, he still managed to growl out a warning. **"III sshould kkkilll yooou wwwhere yyoou sstannnd!"** The pure killing intent he was radiating was similar to the feeling of the night the Kyuubi attacked. But before he had the chance, the guards knocked the man unconscious and took him from Naruto's tails. As much as he deserved to die, he was going to be interrogated first.

Once the threat was thoroughly dealt with, Naruto jumped down from the roof landing on the ground below with a thud. Hugged close to his furry chest was Hanabi, crying her eyes out. "Hanabi-Sama!" The servant women shouted in worry, running to Naruto's side. Naruto carefully handed the girl to them, promising her care to them.

"My god, Naruto are you alright!?" One guard exclaimed, bending down next to the wounded fox. Naruto went to respond but the pain stopped him. Now that everything was over, the adrenaline began to wear off and the pain made itself known. He whined, closing his eyes tight in a futile attempt to reduce what he felt. "We need a medic over here!" Suddenly he was surrounded, being cared and fawned over like he was one of their own.

"Naruto-Kun!" Hinata's horrified shout rang out as she came running from the opposite side of the compound, sliding up next to him. "O-Oh god! W-Who did this to you?" She whispered, before taking his head into her hands. She rubbed calming circles around his cheeks, trying to take away some of the pain as they carefully removed the sword from his mouth. When Hanabi ran to her side for comfort she learned.

There had been an attempt to kidnap her sister, and Naruto had thrown his own life at the enemy just to get her back. Going as far as taking an entire sword to the face just to safely return her to her family. That changed everything.

From that moment onwards, Naruto was treated like one of their own, and not as an outsider. If anyone still held any form of resentment to him, the reminder of just what he suffered for them washed that resentment away. That and the gruesome scar that was permanently etched into the top of his maw and the bottom of his jaw served as pretty glaring reminders. Naruto wasn't the Kyuubi everyone thought him to be...

* * *

Three months passed in their quiet ways after that crucial defining moment of his life. The man that had attempted to steal Hababi just so happened to be a missing ninja. After betraying his village, he had been banished from ever returning. But in a moment if distress, he had gathered it in his head that if he were to offer a Hyuuga to the village leader he would be allowed to return. Of course, when Kumo was informed of this, they refuted that they had any part in the matter.

But after everything was said and done, Naruto put the man as far out of his mind as possible. Just thinking of him brought up a fear he didn't ever want to consider a possibility. The fear that despite his actions, that one day the people he cared about would be taken from him. But he displayed to the world that night, he would die before that possibility was allowed to happen.

Following the incident, the Hyuuga were forced to realize that they had become weak in the safety of their walls. Training regimes would end up taking place after that in the hope that this would never happen again. Naruto had become even more protective of Hinata following what happened, and sometimes she would have to calm him down, lest he accidentally kill someone he thought held ill intent against her. The amount of love, respect, and adoration he held for her was something else. She didn't think he thought that way of her, but she learned that he would do literally anything she asked of him. No matter how embarrassing, nor how shameful, nor revealing, nor dangerous, or illegal. He wouldn't disobey her request.

Perhaps it was due to his isolation from birth that he took to anyone that offered their affections. That combined with the loving and caring soul that she possessed, and his heart was stolen by her hands. She literally had the power over him to calm him or insight certain emotions and physical feelings out of him via her soothing voice alone. She hadn't ever considered herself anything more then just another Hyuuga, but his loving care and passionate determination in her stead made her feel like a queen. And she slowly became addicted to his treatment of her.

And now, three months later, the ninja academy exam had arrived. Naruto had gotten comfortable enough around her that he could stomach being around other people that weren't part of the Hyuga clan. Outside the compound walls Naruto was a different person. The loving and caring Fox the clan had come to know would seemingly vanish when he left the compound's walls. The respect he had for the Hyuga main and branch family were not shared with those outside the walls. The village of Konoha had yet to prove to him why he should care, and had done nothing to create a bond with him. The village was also the same as it was when he was a child, full of people that inexcusably hated his very existence. His time spent outside the company of the white eyed people was anything but pleasant.

The other reason he began to follow her, was because he couldn't stand being alone for long anymore. The days where Hinata would be gone all day, and he'd be stuck at home, he'd nearly have another mental breakdown. It made him feel as if he had been forgotten, left behind in the dirt. Being alone terrified him, because it left him with his thoughts..

Hiruzen still wanted him to keep a low profile for as long as he could. With that thought in mind, Naruto had been taught an advanced Gen-Jutsu. Now, whenever he went with Hinata, he took the form of a normal sized fox with only one visible tail. Of course, Nin-Jutsu couldn't deceive the natural laws of physics, and the body of the small fox was surrounded by a shadow that reflected his real size. This resulted in him hiding in the shadows most of the time.

But even though he looked small, it didn't necessarily mean he looked like a fox regular fox. It was obvious to anyone looking that there was something unnatural about him, whether it be the human like frown that he wore, or be it his extremely emotive facial expressions. The sharp slitted red eyes or deadly teeth, or those shiny white claws of his. Hinata just found it surprising that they never put two and two together.

Not that she minded then, nor did she mind it now. She was currently at the ninja academy, sitting in the center of class quietly. But Naruto was outside, resting under the shade of a tree, for obvious reasons. He'd become strangely separated from people. He had always been bad with crowds, but ever since the incident, his want to surround himself with other people had begun to diminish. Hinata knew that she could force him to interact with others, but that wouldn't be right. The result of such an experiment might be, bloody...

Her eyes gazed out the window, spotting him sleeping under a tree, a frown on his maw. Perhaps it would be different when she was placed on a ninja team. She highly doubted that he would not accompany her on any mission outside the village. Doing so would force him to talk with people, and she could only hope that it would help him see others differently. She just wanted him to be happy, happy like the way he made her happy. She hated it when she found him alone by the creek, staring at his own reflection despondently. Or the days where he'd be staring off into the clouds, for hours straight. She never knew what occupied his mind during those moments, but she had a deep seated feeling that it wasn't good.

So distraught with the sufferings of her nine tailed fox, she had completely missed the entirety of the speech Iruka had prepared for them. It was only when everyone else in the room began to leave that she realized that the time for the test had come. She quickly caught up with the group, meeting together with them in the courtyard outside the academy. Her mind was still occupied with her fox, and so she missed Iruka calling to her until he was standing directly in front of her.

"Hinata? Are you ready..?" Iruka asked softly, giving the girl a concerned look. The Hyuuga heiress blinked in surprise, looking up to Iruka. Everyone else had taken the test and either passed or failed, except for her. She took another glance back to the shade of one of the many trees that lined the academy grounds, finding Naruto resting quietly, watching her from the shadows.

"M-My apologies Iruka-Sensei." Hinata bowed quickly, before moving to the center of the training ground. She'd quickly completed the simple Nin-Jutsu required to pass, and easily surpassed the quick test. Her attention was split between her success and ascendance to a ninja, and the prominent depression the one she cared about suffered from. She barely registered that Iruka wanted everyone to return two days from then for team assignments. While all those that passed the exam celebrated behind her, she left them behind in favor of comforting Naruto.

She walked up to him quietly, sitting down beside him. He was doing it again, staring off at nothing endlessly. She frowned, before reaching out to him.

"Naruto-Kun? What's wrong..?" She asked softly, patiently awaiting his response. He huffed hot air out through his nose, but didn't respond. She frowned in concern, but quietly waited for him to make a response. She could see it in his eyes, in the way his face was tensed up. "Naruto-Kun, please... I-I can't help unless you tell me what's w-wrong.." Hinata gently pushed.

**"I'm sorry."** He suddenly responded, almost catching her off guard. Before she had the chance to ask what he meant, he continued. **"I'm afraid..."** He said, his voice deathly quiet in that moment. Hinata's face scrunched up in confusion.

"O-Of what..?" She found herself asking, almost afraid to learn the answer.

**"Of losing you."** His response was as down to earth as it was loving. He turned to face her, his gaze locking with her. She could see the unguarded fear that filled his red orbs, exposed for her to witness.** "I thought that the safest place around would be here inside the compound, surrounded by a ninja village... But even then, you weren't safe..."** Suddenly his eyes began to glow with a hateful wrath, and a snarl marred his features. **"That man tried to take everything away from me... He tried to take her.."** His anger abated, replaced with worry. **"He.. He tried to take you..."**

A little overwhelmed by the fact that this was the most he had spoken in a while, she quickly came to terms with what was truly bothering him. He was afraid of losing her.

**"Kumo's an ally..."** Naruto growled, before laughing ruefully. **"Didn't stop them from stabbing us in the back... thrice..."** He grunted, his eyes glowing moodily.

"Naruto-Kun..." Hinata muttered, unsure of what to say.

**"I don't trust them anymore..."** He grunted.

"K-Kumo?" She offered helpfully. But his response was alarming.

**"People..."** Hinata's eyes widened. **"They're all the same... They'll do anything for their village... Even kidnap a child..."** He growled lowly. **"It's disgusting..."** He looked visibly upset by the notion alone. Hinata struggled to make him see reason.

"Please, N-Naruto-Kun... Not everyone is like that..." She offered softly, her eyes locking with his. "Some people are different, not all people are e-evil..." It hurt her to see him so torn over this. But she had a feeling that it wasn't going to be a simple fix, no matter how much she wanted it to be.

**"Didn't stop them when it came to me..."** He muttered darkly, unable to lock eyes with her any longer. Hinata, for her part, had nothing to say to that. She felt ashamed that the most she could offer him then was silence. She sat there alongside him quietly, giving him her attention. The last thing she or anyone here wanted was for him to develop a hatred for humans in general.

"Y-You don't feel t-that way about the Hyuuga... Do you?" Hinata asked quietly, her head down. Naruto's eyes softened at the mention of the only group of people he actually trusted and even cared for.

**"They're different... They don't live for the sake of this ungrateful village..."** Naruto said lowly, his voice having lost that edge. Hinata looked up, her eyes widened. **"They're.. family..."** His face softened, the tension leaving him. **"They live together, with each other... for each other. They'd die for one another if that meant saving family..."** His gaze turned back to the sky, finding solace in the drifting clouds. **"I can't say the same for this _village_..."**

"Naruto-Kun.." Hinata tried, but it didn't change his thoughts.

**"Forget it, let's just go home..."** Naruto grumbled before he stood up. Hinata watched uncertainly as Naruto took to the roof tops of building, making his way back back to the Hyuuga Compound. Hinata sighed, staring at him as he left. She went to leave as well, but someone stopped her.

"He didn't look too happy..." The rather obvious yet concerned statement came from non other then Kiba, who had been listening in from around the corner of the academy building. Hinata turned to face him, her face downcast. "What happened?" The wild looking teen asked, arms cast lazily behind his head. Hinata at first thought it better that he didn't know, but quickly decided against that.

"He's losing t-trust in people..." Hinata muttered. Kiba rolled his eyes, as if it were obvious.

"Well that much is apparent. The guy never really trusted much outside of us anyway..." Kiba pointed out, as if that settled it all. "In this world you can't trust most people with much really..." When Hinata's downcast look failed to leave, he gathered the feeling that there was more to the story.

"I-I meant people in general... everyone." Hinata explained. "Humans..." She elaborated further when he failed to fully understand.

"Oh..." Kiba added rather dumbly, lost as to what to say. He looked up, spotting Naruto watching them from a distant roof top. He was ready to leave, but unwilling to leave Hinata alone. Another sign of his general distrust of anyone, that he couldn't even trust the ninja academy instructors to keep their own students safe. The Hyuga princess sighed, before making after the fox. Kiba just watched in silence, unable to bring up anything positive.

* * *

**Chapter **

**4**

**END**


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note.

You know, it shocks me sometimes when i go back and look over the stats of this story and I realize that I've already typed down over twenty four thousand words. Crazy how time flys, you know?

I love the movie Beauty and the Beast...

Ah, please ignore my ramblings. I don't get out much anymore...

* * *

LEGEND BELOW

"In the beginning..." = Normal speech.

_''I kinda wanted to know.''_ = Normal thoughts.

**"You dare to defy me!?"** = Unknown speech.

**_''That's what I thought.''_** = Unknown thoughts.

* * *

The air in the office room was tense and heavy, to say the least. Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his desk, a spoke pipe hanging from his mouth. His attention was drawn to the window beside him, drawing a perfect view of the entire village from its angle. He'd rather get distracted by the small things like that then constantly face down problem after problem. However, being the Hokage meant that you couldn't afford that luxury. Sad thing, that it was...

It was still early morning, as the sun was just on the horizon. He'd been waiting in his office for a small amount of time now, and his patience had been faithfully rewarded. A knock on the office doors broke his thoughts, and pulled his mind to a focus.

"Come in.." He ordered, the tired lull of his aging voice echoing through the doors. The doors opened, revealing the ninja behind it. A tall man dressed in sage like garb entered the room, his long white mane of spiked hair shifting with every step. The click of wood on wood filled the otherwise quiet space, as his geta connected with the floor.

"Jiraiya... Good, you're here..." Hiruzen commented from his seat. The Hokage clasped his hands together gently, his face stressed. "We have much to discuss, you and I." The other man, Jiraiya, crossed his arms with a deep frown marring his battle hardened features. A silence pursued following Hiruzen's words, Jiraiya seemingly unwilling to offer a word in edgewise.

"Jiraiya I know you probably don't want to talk to me right now, but this is of the utmost importance." Hiruzen tried being tough, his voice hardening, but the emotion wasn't there. The sage's frown only seemed to deepen. "I've been driven up a wall, and I've no idea what to do..." The aged ninja tried, but still got no response. He could always order the man to talk to him, but that could be the true nail in the coffin that finally pushes him away too. Just like the others.

"A leader to a village of ninja I can be, but... when it comes to folklore and legends... Well, I always left that part to you..." Hiruzen sighed, running a hand nervously through his hair. Honestly, as of late, his skill in controlling the village seemed to be slipping. "You two were always the ones that properly understood the stranger things in life..." His voice trailed off. "But with Tsunade gone.. that left you."

"I know there's many a mistake I've made in my day... But I-" The old man's words were cut off when finally, after the one sided conversation pressed on for too long, Jiraiya decided to speak.

"-decided to contact me only when you felt it absolutely necessary..." The man spoke, arms crossed and a hard look drawn across his face. Jiraiya has been conveniently kept out of the loop, and had only just recently been informed of the situation. The reason behind why wasn't the big issue he was dealing with however. "Of course, letting me know that, while I was away doing stuff for you, my godson's suffered something no one saw physically possible wasn't relevant enough for you to let me know..."

There was a bitter look of resentment on Jiraiya's face, and Hiruzen was ashamed to say that he couldn't dare meet his eyes just then. He knew that something along these lines would happen were he to tell Jiraiya about the unfortunate circumstances Naruto had found himself in, but he had hoped that he could resolve the problem himself. Needless to say, his hopes were dashed, when he realized that he knew absolutely nothing about the physical nature of the mythical Nine Tails, nor how to deal with one. It was clear that Naruto was still relatively the same, mentality speaking, but... After a few weeks of late night research, Hiruzen came to the conclusion that there was much more to Naruto's new form, and the Kyuubi then he felt comfortable with.

There was years of legends and myths and encounters had with the mythical creature known as the Kyuubi, all recorded in some way shape or form. Many had believed, himself included, that the Nine Tailed Demon Fox that attacked that fateful night was just that, a demon. A being hellbent on killing all in its path, caring nothing for the lives that it took in its rampage. It would be all too simple if that were the case. The world of the ninja knew more in dealing with the Bujuu, then in dealing with the creatures of mythology.

Hiruzen had nothing when it came to that topic, but Jiraya did. Jiraya wasn't the sage of the warrior Toads for nothing. The man had his fair share of mythical interactions, and much more knowledge on the subject then he.

"You don't understand the severity of the situation.." Hiruzen chirped back, but was quickly rebuked.

"Of course. But I would've if someone thought to inform me beforehand. Apparently being a godfather means nothing anymore..." The toad sage growled. He refused to let the old man off easily. Hiruzen sighed, rubbing his temples aggressively.

"That isn't important right n-!"

"Don't you _dare_ tell me, what _is_ or is _not_ important right now!" Jiraya shouted, slamming his hands onto the Hokage's desk. "I don't care! What I want to know, Hiruzen, is how one of the biggest criminals in the land of fire was able to singlehandedly infiltrate Konoha and gain direct access to my godson. This went on unnoticed for two weeks before anyone caught a whiff of foul play!?" Jiraya felt like his eyes were going to explode, the tightness in his jaw extreme. He just couldn't fathom the stupidity of it all.

"Of course, your men never even found out in the first place! You left it up to a civilian girl and her buddies to find out. I thought you ran a Ninja village?" The longer Jiraya went on, the more Hiruzen realized the error of his ways, and just how badly he had screwed up. It was one thing to see it, and another to have it yelled at him from his student. "You'd think the container of the wildly unstable Nine Tailed goddamn Fox would be someone to keep tabs on!"

"I wasn't about to treat him like a criminal! Always watching him, waiting for him to snap!" Hiruzen shot back. Who was Jiraya to question his decisions?

"And look where that got you in the end." Jiraya spoke deathly quiet, his hard gaze never leaving Hiruzen's. The old man tried to fight it, but he knew in his heart that everything Jiraya said was absolutely true. He knew that he screwed up badly, but he didn't want to believe that he couldn't save it himself. But, he realized, you couldn't save something you already lost.

Hiruzen slumped in his chair, defeat washing over him. He ran his hands through his hair, his gaze falling to his desk. "I messed up..." He admitted lowly, his driving effort to defend himself dried up.

"Yes, well, we already covered that." Jiraya said with a frown. "So now, let's cover how we're going to go about fixing it."

"It wasn't a Bujuu..." Hiruzen muttered haunted, his gaze distant. Jiraya frowned.

"What are you taking about?" The frog sage grunted.

"The Kyuubi. The one that attacked thirteen years ago wasn't a Bujuu..." Hiruzen explained, setting his eyes on the sage. Jiraya's eyes narrowed.

"Of course it was. What else could it have been?" Jiraya commented.

"I'm unsure... but. Of all the traits associated with Jinchuriki, Naruto had never displayed any. No random burst of anger, no leaking chakra, no extreme changes to his physical appearance. Nothing... What other Jinchuriki has ever been so perfect?" Hiruzen stated. Jiraya frowned, but didn't comment. "Minato was a genius, but he wasn't perfect. That seal that he used was rushed, and imperfect. That's why it surprised me when years passed and Naruto remained completely safe from the Kyuubi's malicious chakra and influence."

"Hmm... Yes that does strike me as strange. The boy was always in the kind hearted side, but it's impossible to believe that he wouldn't suffer some ill side affects from the Kyuubi. But you're sure of this?" Jiraya commented, deciding to take a seat now that they were actually talking.

"I wasn't fully convinced at first, but... I went to personally check up on him two weeks ago, and that's when I noticed it..." Hiruzen muttered lowly, before reaching under his desk for something. "You're aware of the legends behind the Kitsune, yes?" He questioned.

"I'm fairly informed on their history, why?" Jiraya responded, unsure as to where Hiruzen was going with this.

"The legends spoke of something each Kitsune held, something that gave them their power..." Hiruzen intoned. Jiraya nodded, following along.

"Ah yes. Their Hoshi No Tama, little white crystals. It's said that their life was connected to them. What's that have to do with Naruto?" Jiraya said. He was well aware of the legends pertaining to the mythical creatures, as a sage would be. "The size of their crystals was related to their power. But most weren't larger then a pebble."

"Yes well, those pebbles could be deceiving..." Hiruzen muttered. "It was stated that a Kitsune with a Hoshi No Tama the size of a pebble could destroy a small village..." Jiraya raised an eye brow.

"Cute. But I could easily do the same. What's your point?" Jiraya grunted.

"When I visited Naruto.. I.." Hiruzen seemed to struggle for words. "I saw it..."

"What?" The white haired man asked.

"Imbedded in his forehead, surrounded by a black patch of fur was a Hoshi No Tama shaped like a diamond, and it was the size of your skull..." Jiraya's heart nearly stopped at the statement.

A horrified look crossed the toad sage's face, his mind reeling. He'd heard of strong Kitsune before, and had actually seen one in person once. But never, never in his life could he possibly even fathom a Kitsune wielding a Hoshi No Tama that big. The color drained from his face, his hands clamming up.

"Are... you certain..?" He found himself asking. His eyes were searching the Hokage for any sort of deceit, any trick. Because if he were telling the truth, the situation they just found themselves in was a whole lot bigger then they were prepared to deal with. "Perhaps you just... made a mistake..?" Yes, yes that must be the logical conclusion. The only other conclusion was too insane to even think of.

Hiruzen's face contorted, and Jiraya could see just how hard he was trying not to break that level of calm rationality that he tried to carry on his shoulders. "Please... Jiraya, by all means prove me wrong..." Hiruzen begged, staring him in the eyes. Jiraya's hands found their way to his hair, running them through the white strands stressed. "That... That is why I called you here Jiraya.."

Jiraya sunk into the chair, his eyes closed. "Where? Where is he? Naruto..?" The man asked, a deep exhale echoed throughout the room.

"He's currently residing with the Hyuuga Clan. After... what happened, the Hyuuga princess took it upon herself to care for him." A small smile grew on his face at the thought. A little reprieve settled into the air at that statement, and Jiraya couldn't help but let a little grin form.

"Heh... I swear, that family line can't seem to stay away from princess's..." Jiraya muttered with a tense chuckle. Hiruzen even managed to crack a small smile at the joke, recalling his late successor's hot headed wife.

"Yes well... I don't think Kushina was going to let Minato get away once she sunk her grubby little claws into him." The Hokage said as if it were a serious matter, alleviating some of the tension. Silence passed on after that point, the two men quietly mulling over all the information laid out before them. There were so many risks and dangers that lay before them, and many of them had no set and ready solution ready to go.

"Do you think he's dangerous..?" Jiraya asked, his hands set firmly onto the chair under him.

"Yes. Without a shadow of a doubt." Came Hiruzen's reply.

"Do you think he's a threat to the village..?"

"...No..." The old man replied slowly. Jiraya frowned. "But..."

"But? But what?" Jiraya intoned. There was a catch. He sighed. There was always a catch.

"He's displayed... Rather, aggressive behavior, especially to those that attempt to bring his princess harm." Hiruzen stated. When Jiraya stayed silent, he moved to explain. "Two months ago there was another attempted abduction of the Hyuuga Heiress... You can imagine the reaction he had to that." Jiraya's face paled. "If not for the hasty intervention by the Hyuuga guard, there wouldn't have been a body left to interrogate..."

"So we're left with a Nine Tailed Kitsune that has a pool of power too large to properly fathom, and a protective streak a continent wide. Said Kitsune most likely knows very little in terms of his potential strength, and could very well destroy everything around him if not careful..." Jiraya felt like slamming his head into the desk, repeatedly. "Brilliant, Orochimaru! Goddamn brilliant.." He seethed sarcastically.

"Your old teammate's stupid plans aside, let us focus on the here and now, two things that we can affect." Hiruzen stated, taking a deep breath to attempt to calm his nerves. Jiraya joined him in taking a few calming moments to gather themselves. "I think that it's in everyone's best interest that we manage to keep him calmed, lest we accidentally have a repeat of the events thirteen years ago..." He suggested. No one wanted another devastating assault by a rampaging Kyuubi. "And... Perhaps you could help him in that manner..." Hiruzen stated. This caught Jiraya's attention.

"You want me to train him." It wasn't a question, Jiraya knew. Hiruzen just nodded his head, confirming his beliefs.

"I know that your spare time is limited, but I believe he could do wonders under your wings. And, perhaps being around you might mellow out that aggression he has bottled up inside..." As much as Jiraya hated to admit it, the old geezer did make a very valid point.

"I'll see what I can do." The white haired sage said. "But before anything else, I'm going to check up on him in person. It's been nearly nine months since I last saw him..." He explained, as he stood up. Hiruzen smiled, a relieved look washing over him.

"That's all I ask..."

* * *

**"You've got to try a little harder Princess..."** It was once again midday in the Hyuuga household, and as had become rather usual for the heiress and her guardian angel, the two were found training in the Hyuuga's private training grounds. Said training was an evolved form of catch, if you could call it that. Hinata was once again the mouse in the situation, and was doing her damnedest to escape from his grasp. But the Kitsune's big and powerful rear legs prevented her from ever gaining a proper distance from him. His singsong voice echoed across the training hall, before he lunged forward again, his multiple furry tails reaching out.

"Not fair, Naruto! N-No tails!" The Hyuuga princess exclaimed, deftly dodging another one of his lunges with a grace that spoke of her flexibility. She was huffing lightly, but was in much better shape then when they first started those few months ago. Her training had really paid off, and it was proven true by comparing herself to many of the other ninja academy students. She outclassed them all easily, perhaps aside from Sasuke. That girl was something else for sure.

**"As you wish."** He smiled a wide happy grin, his eyes lighting up. **"Its easier to hold you this way."** Following his statement, he lunged again, this time reaching his paw padded hands out to grab her. Her body contorted into a backflip, just narrowly escaping his greedy grasp. **"Ah, so close..."** He intoned, setting his sights on her form once more.

The design behind the type of training they had thought up was directly related to the young princess's body type. Most of the Hyuuga were rather thin and lean people, by nature as well, not by choice. That was the reason behind why their chosen combat style fit them so well. Quick aggressive and precise chakra infused jabs designed to debilitate and destroy you from the inside out. That was all well and good, but that style stopped working for Hinata when she hit fourteen. Even at such a young age, it was made apparent that the girl would most definitely grow up to have a body just like that of the legendary Tsunade Senju. It was definitely showing too, even at her young age.

Some in the clan had actually started to believe that she might not be of full blood heritage. What other Hyuuga, ever, had a voluptuous body in training, dark purple hair, and lavender eyes? None. Absolutely none. But that didn't change their view of her. If that meant that their future ruler was going to be the most stunning drop dead gorgeous woman in Konoha, then they certainly weren't complaining. She'd also become the first female leader since the clan's origination.

Let it not be said that fighting quickly with large breasts was easy, because it wasn't. If you have anything to say against that, then you'd likely incur the wrath of said Senju. Because she has years of experience proving that it wasn't...

"I-I swear, you never tire!" Hinata whined, dropping to the ground as Naruto jumped over her, landing heavily behind her. He whipped back around, his heavy legs creating echos throughout the training hall as they connected with the hard wood floor. "N-Not too rough, Naruto. W-We have the team meeting tomorrow!" Hinata squeaked, as Naruto closed in again. Hinata was unable to dodge this time, and found herself caught in the fox's comfortable grasp. Naruto rolled over onto his back, holding Hinata by the hips up in the air like a toy.

**"Got you."** The fox laughed. Hinata couldn't help but break up into joyous giggles. **"And now your punishment for failure..."** He sung menacingly, nine tails suddenly raised into the air. Her giggling stopped, and she started squirming to escape.

"W-Wait! Naruto don't you d-dare!" Hinata warned, trying to put on her most serious face. However, that fell away rather quickly when she was assaulted on all sides by large furry tails. "N-N-Noo- aaaah! N-Naruto! Y-You know I'm t-ticklish there!" Hinata squealed with a burst of uncontrollable giggles, her legs closed tightly as if that would save her from her fate. He just smiled and laughed, assaulting all her weak spots over and over. Their laughter filled the hall, before finally they calmed down a few minutes later.

Hinata sat down of his large belly, holding her legs closed as she tried to catch her breath. Naruto just smiled up at her lovingly, the large white gem on his forehead glinting in the flickering light from the lamp posts. The princess's cheeks flared a hot red, and she waved a small fan at herself to cool down.

**"I like that color."** Naruto spoke up suddenly, a deep smile crossing his maw. Hinata blushed darker.

"W-What color..?" She couldn't help but ask, though the darkening of her cheeks suggested that she already knew the answer.

**"Red."** He spoke truthfully, his eyes gazing over her soft face. **"It's beautiful."** The girl felt like fainting under the heavy adoration she saw in his eyes, eyes that never lied to her, and gave her everything that she wanted. **"The same color as your lips."** Okay, now he was just complimenting her for the sake of complimenting her. **"And your eyes, I love those too."** The sincerity in his voice never ceased to touch her heart. She blushed scarlet, looking away.

"Y-You're such a s-shameless flirt..." The girl muttered, but she smiled back at him. The loving smile that his face lit up into made her feel complete.

**"You know you love it..."** He responded cheekily. And she did. In fact, she craved his adoring attention, badly. She pretended that she didn't, but he saw straight through that ruse easily. And he enjoyed feeding that craving, very much so. He made her feel like an absolute queen, every day. And she wouldn't have it any other way.

"Yes. Please, tell me more..." She muttered softly, reaching out to grasp his ears. He grinned, happily complying to her wishes.

**"I love your voice."** He continued lowly. His nose was now close to hers, almost touching. **"I love your smell."** He said quieter, his nose pressed into the small crevice below her breasts. **"Like cinnamon buns on a cold winter morning..."** He breathed hotly, his eyes pulled up to meet her. Her entire face had turned red as she squeaked, and he hid his grin under her chest. **"I love the days where I can sit and watch you train..."** The girl found herself lost for words, instead sitting comfortably atop him as he buttered her up.

They were intending to stay like that for a little while longer, but the moment was interrupted by a knock on the hall's double doors. The other clan members knew when to leave them to their privacy, so whoever was there must have needed something important. With a deep sigh, knowing that his fun was likely over for the day, Naruto called out.

**"Come in."** Following his exclamation, the doors swung open, revealing one of the Hyuuga guards, and someone else. Naruto's eyes lit up in recognition. **"Jiraya!"** The fox exclaimed in shocked joy, quickly getting to his feet. Hinata stood up beside him, her blush fading away as the newcomer entered the hall. She didn't know a Jiraya, but Naruto seemed to, so that was enough for her.

"Hey... kid.." Jiraya said, trying to convey his usual enthusiasm he was known for carrying. Naruto either didn't seem to notice the change in tone, or didn't care. He was just happy to see his godfather once again. "...How yah been holding up?" He asked casually. Inside however, his brain was doing flips. This was the first time he was actually seeing Naruto as he was now, a big overprotective Kitsune, not at all the normal human he used to be. It was almost too much for him to handle without freaking out on the outside.

**"I love my life here."** The genuine joy he expressed was surprising to the toad sage. It wasn't at all the reaction he was expecting. Just goes to show just how out of the loop his was. **"..I.. I have family here..."** It was a more somber tone he took, but nothing less genuine. **"But forget about me. I haven't seen you in forever!"**

"Who is t-this, Naruto?" Hinata spoke up from beside him. Naruto just turned a grin to her.

**"This, is my godfather. Jiraya."** Naruto informed happily. He was so happy. For the first time in a long time, there was someone else that he knew and loved, here, with him again.

"Ah, and you must be Hinata Hyuuga." Jiraya said with a grin, bending down to one knee. "Pleased to meet you. I hear that you're quite the little lady." She narrowed her eyes at the statement, a blush adorning her cheeks once again.

**"Princess isn't small."** Naruto defended.

"Thank you, dear." Hinata responded, flashing him a loving smile. Jiraya's eyes unfocused for a moment, his mind instantly locking onto two separate words. Now perhaps it was just in his nature to detect these sorts of things, but he couldn't help it even if he tried.

_''Princess? Dear? Oh God, they've got pet names for each other!''_ The sage internally ranted. "Err yes, my bad." Came his rather thought out response. "I don't mean to cut our little reunion short, but I actually came here to check up on you, Sarutobi's orders..." Jiraya sighed, standing back up. He took a moment to fully take Naruto's new form into consideration.

**"...Ah.. I see."** Naruto was upset, but he wasn't angry. He understood where this might be coming from.

"...And if you are willing.. I could help to train you to control your newfound power.." The fox's eyes widened at this. Jiraya saw his reaction and grinned. Hook line and sinker. "But I'm a very busy man, as you know. Running an entire spy network isn't exactly easy." He said, trying to come off as cool. Naruto took the bait instantly. But, instead of speaking up for himself, he turned to the spunky little Hyuuga beside him.

Hinata looked between the two, unsure if she should just go along with it, or stay away. She'd been tricked many times before, and Naruto more so. But for him to trust this man the way he did, who was she to say no? That, and the fact that she couldn't deny him anything when he flashed her those pleading shiny rubies.

"I-If you think it's a good idea... Then I'll be okay w-with it..." She seemed unsure, which almost put Naruto off, but she said that she was good, so Naruto let it go.

**"Thank you."** His response was soft, giving her a knowing look. Jiraya frowned at the display. He was told that there was something between the two of them, but he didn't expect this. He only caught the butt end of whatever was going on before he barged in, but it seemed to him that Naruto held the Hyuuga so high on his personal list, that he'd probably do literally anything she asked. Now only if he knew that it wasn't a probably, but a most definitely.

"That's great! Well, I'm only in town for today, so we'll have to train some other time." He said with a sigh. "But in the meantime, maybe you could catch me up to speed on yourself..? I've been away for a little while..." Jiraya asked, and Naruto's mood seemed to falter. Deciding to get comfortable again, Naruto curled up on the ground, motioning for Hinata to join him. Hinata practically shoved herself into the crook of his neck, resting her back against his furry chest. It was one of her favorite positions.

"...H-He doesn't like to talk about i-it..." Hinata spoke up in the fox's place, running a soothing hand under his chin. "But i-if you don't mind... I am perfectly capable of o-offering an explanation..." Jiraya's fave softened. It seems like he'd have to settle for that. He could clearly see just how uncomfortable the situation was for him to talk about openly. He wouldn't press it any further...

* * *

Jiraya left that afternoon with a much clearer view of the situation, and more importantly, how to handle it. He had all these makeshift plans set up just in case, but it turned out more positive then he first thought possible. He'd report his findings to Hiruzen, and then see what else he could do for the Kitsune. It was the most he could do, and Naruto deserved the help, now more then ever.

His second objective, was to track down the bastard that dared to experiment on his godson, and beat the life out of him. Orochimaru had gone too far this time, and his schemes would have lasting affects this time around. He didn't think it was possible for anyone to turn Naruto back to normal. And sadly, Naruto was the first to reach that conclusion, even when others thought it possible. He had come to terms with the fact that he was stuck like this for the rest of his life, and had apparently decided to get comfortable with it. Jiraya couldn't say that he'd so easily do the same if the roles were reversed...

Of course, it most likely wouldn't have been possible, if not for the little Hyuuga. That girl seemed to be the only thing keeping Naruto sane, and she was doing a terrific job too. He shuddered at the thought of what might happen were he to lose her...

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**End.**


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